However, as baby platypus and echidnas don’t look very much alike, once they get past the initial post-hatching “jelly-bean” stage, the use of this term in relation to platypus is somewhat misleading. Taronga Zoo has also used puggle to refer to baby platypuses. The term puggle has been used by the AZA (American Zoological Association) as the generic name for a baby monotreme as joey is the generic name for a baby marsupial. It can be found on interpretive signage about echidnas in wildlife parks around world and on a number of, websites that list names for baby animals. Since 1991 the term has been used this way in many popular and scientific magazines (like GEO, BBC Wildlife, Australian Natural History and Journal of Mammalogy) as well as children’s books. The word “puggle” has also sometimes been used although this term was originally applied specifically to baby echidnas.

One suggested possible name is a “platypup”. There is no official term – equivalent to pup or cub – to describe a baby platypus. The term “platypi” – a Latin plural – is definitely incorrect. Instead, the preferred plural is either “platypus” or “platypuses”, depending on which dictionary you consult. However, this has never caught on for some reason (we can’t imagine why not). When it was later found out that the word “Platypus” had already been applied to a group of beetles, the specimen was renamed Ornithorhynchus anatinus, with the first word meaning “bird-like snout”.īecause the word “platypus” is derived from Greek, its plural should (strictly speaking) be “platypodes”. When the specimen proved to be genuine, Shaw named it Platypus anatinus, from the Greek words “platys” (meaning flat or broad) and “pous” (meaning foot) and a Latin word meaning duck-like (“anatinus”). He even took a pair of scissors to the preserved specimen, expecting to find that the bill had been attached to the rest of the body with stitches. His initial reaction was that this very unusual looking animal was an elaborate hoax. The duck’s babies had their mother’s bill and webbed feet and their father’s four legs and handsome brown fur.Ī British scientist, Dr George Shaw, published the first scientific description of the platypus in 1799. According to Aboriginal legend, the platypus originated when a young female duck mated with a lonely and persuasive water-rat. Names for the platypus (including “What is the plural of platypus?”)Īboriginal people had many different regional names for the platypus, including “boondaburra”, “mallingong” and “tambreet”.

Platypus babies are called