Thursday, May 8, 2008

playtpus genome sequenced

It seems like every time I hear something about the duckbilled platypus (is there a non-duckbilled version out there somewhere?), I learn something new about it. Just looking at the damned thing, it's obviously a taxonomist's nightmare, but now that the genome has been sequenced we're finding out that its genotype is just as funky as its phenotype. It doesn't just look like a Nature 2.0 mash up between mammal, reptile, and bird... it is a Nature 2.0 mash up of mammal, reptile, and bird.

And did you know that the platypus has 10 sexes? And have electroreception ability? And the males have a fscking poisonous spike in their hind feet?

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