The strange platypus has unveiled another new quirk. Scientists in Belgium said that the structures inside its hair cells are hollow. Previously we only knew bird feathers to have this unique trait. Image via Charles J. Sharp/ Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
The platypus, one of the strangest animals on the planet, has surprised scientists once again. A team of researchers from Ghent University in Belgium has discovered that this egg-laying mammal from Australia has a microscopic feature in its hair never seen before in mammals. These structures inside platypus hairs are hollow, resembling those of bird feathers.
The findings, published on March 18, 2026, in the peer-reviewed journal Biology Letters, add yet another twist to the long list of traits that make the platypus so unique.
Platypus surprises never end
The platypus already looks like a mix of different animals. It has a bill like a duck, a tail like a beaver and a body like an otter. But its uniqueness goes far beyond its appearance. It’s a mammal, but it lays eggs instead of giving birth. Plus, it hunts by detecting electric signals produced by its prey’s muscles.
It also glows bluish-green under ultraviolet light, carries many more sex chromosomes than most mammals and shows unusual biological traits. Males are venomous, while females produce milk but do not have nipples.
Now, scientists have uncovered another surprising feature hidden deep inside its hair.
Read more about the strange platypus here and watch this video.
Platypus secret hidden in hair
Platypus hairs contains melanosomes. Melanosomes are tiny structures inside animal cells that store pigment. But the researchers found that platypus’ melanosomes are hollow. Until now, scientists had only seen hollow melanosomes in bird feathers, not in mammals. The researchers wrote in the paper:
Excitingly, over 200 years after its description as something in between birds and mammals, we find additional convergence between the platypus and birds.
To investigate further, the team analyzed hair from 10 platypuses using powerful microscopes. They also compared the results with other animals, including echidnas – the platypus’ closest living relatives – as well as marsupials like wombats and Tasmanian devils. None of these animals showed hollow melanosomes. This makes the platypus the only known mammal with this trait among the 126 species studied so far. Lead author Jessica Leigh Dobson told Science News:
I find it very, very unlikely that it wouldn’t have been found already.
A shape that breaks the rules
The discovery became even more puzzling when researchers looked at the shape of these structures. Platypus melanosomes are not only hollow, but also spherical. That’s a combination never seen before in vertebrates.
In birds, hollow melanosomes tend to be rod-like or flattened. Some mammals do have spherical melanosomes, but those are always solid. The platypus, once again, does things differently.
A mystery scientists can’t explain
The team also studied the pigment inside the hair. They found mostly eumelanin, which produces brown and black tones. It also found possible traces of pheomelanin, responsible for red and yellow hues.
This result matches the animal’s dark coloration, but it creates a contradiction. Normally, spherical melanosomes link to pheomelanin, not eumelanin. Dobson told BBC Wildlife Magazine:
This doesn’t really conform with what we currently know about how melanosome shape correlates with color.
Platypuses vs birds: not the same shine
In birds, hollow melanosomes often create iridescence, a shimmering effect that produces shifting rainbow colors. However, platypus fur does not show this effect. Their coloration remains a simple brown.
Even more surprising, mammals that do show iridescence, such as golden moles and giant otter shrews, have solid melanosomes instead of hollow ones.
An unanswered question
For now, scientists still do not know why the platypus has hollow melanosomes. One idea suggests this feature could relate to its aquatic lifestyle. Possibly helping with insulation or another function unrelated to color. Tim Caro, an evolutionary ecologist at the University of Bristol in England, who was not involved with the research, told Science News:
My gut feeling is it’s nothing to do with color, it’s to do with some other lifestyle attribute.
But this raises another question. If this trait helps animals that live in water, why has it not appeared in other aquatic mammals? Dobson said at Agence France-Presse:
Further work is definitely needed to find out why they have them.
The platypus and its unique place in nature
There is only one species of platypus, and it lives exclusively in Australia. Yet despite decades of research, this unusual animal continues to challenge what we thought we knew.
Each new discovery only deepens the mystery, confirming the platypus as one of nature’s most puzzling and fascinating creatures … a species scientists are still far from fully understanding.
Bottom line: The platypus keeps amazing scientists: even its hair hides a strange secret that, until now, only birds were known to have.
Source: A unique hollow melanosome morphology in the hairs of the platypus Ornithorhynchus anatinus
Read more:
Tasmanian devil population increases with breeding program
The gliding possum is a nocturnal acrobat of the forest
Australian lyrebirds have a hidden skill for farming
The post A new platypus mystery … hollow hairs like bird feathers! first appeared on EarthSky.
from EarthSky https://ift.tt/OqBDrRZ
The strange platypus has unveiled another new quirk. Scientists in Belgium said that the structures inside its hair cells are hollow. Previously we only knew bird feathers to have this unique trait. Image via Charles J. Sharp/ Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
The platypus, one of the strangest animals on the planet, has surprised scientists once again. A team of researchers from Ghent University in Belgium has discovered that this egg-laying mammal from Australia has a microscopic feature in its hair never seen before in mammals. These structures inside platypus hairs are hollow, resembling those of bird feathers.
The findings, published on March 18, 2026, in the peer-reviewed journal Biology Letters, add yet another twist to the long list of traits that make the platypus so unique.
Platypus surprises never end
The platypus already looks like a mix of different animals. It has a bill like a duck, a tail like a beaver and a body like an otter. But its uniqueness goes far beyond its appearance. It’s a mammal, but it lays eggs instead of giving birth. Plus, it hunts by detecting electric signals produced by its prey’s muscles.
It also glows bluish-green under ultraviolet light, carries many more sex chromosomes than most mammals and shows unusual biological traits. Males are venomous, while females produce milk but do not have nipples.
Now, scientists have uncovered another surprising feature hidden deep inside its hair.
Read more about the strange platypus here and watch this video.
Platypus secret hidden in hair
Platypus hairs contains melanosomes. Melanosomes are tiny structures inside animal cells that store pigment. But the researchers found that platypus’ melanosomes are hollow. Until now, scientists had only seen hollow melanosomes in bird feathers, not in mammals. The researchers wrote in the paper:
Excitingly, over 200 years after its description as something in between birds and mammals, we find additional convergence between the platypus and birds.
To investigate further, the team analyzed hair from 10 platypuses using powerful microscopes. They also compared the results with other animals, including echidnas – the platypus’ closest living relatives – as well as marsupials like wombats and Tasmanian devils. None of these animals showed hollow melanosomes. This makes the platypus the only known mammal with this trait among the 126 species studied so far. Lead author Jessica Leigh Dobson told Science News:
I find it very, very unlikely that it wouldn’t have been found already.
A shape that breaks the rules
The discovery became even more puzzling when researchers looked at the shape of these structures. Platypus melanosomes are not only hollow, but also spherical. That’s a combination never seen before in vertebrates.
In birds, hollow melanosomes tend to be rod-like or flattened. Some mammals do have spherical melanosomes, but those are always solid. The platypus, once again, does things differently.
A mystery scientists can’t explain
The team also studied the pigment inside the hair. They found mostly eumelanin, which produces brown and black tones. It also found possible traces of pheomelanin, responsible for red and yellow hues.
This result matches the animal’s dark coloration, but it creates a contradiction. Normally, spherical melanosomes link to pheomelanin, not eumelanin. Dobson told BBC Wildlife Magazine:
This doesn’t really conform with what we currently know about how melanosome shape correlates with color.
Platypuses vs birds: not the same shine
In birds, hollow melanosomes often create iridescence, a shimmering effect that produces shifting rainbow colors. However, platypus fur does not show this effect. Their coloration remains a simple brown.
Even more surprising, mammals that do show iridescence, such as golden moles and giant otter shrews, have solid melanosomes instead of hollow ones.
An unanswered question
For now, scientists still do not know why the platypus has hollow melanosomes. One idea suggests this feature could relate to its aquatic lifestyle. Possibly helping with insulation or another function unrelated to color. Tim Caro, an evolutionary ecologist at the University of Bristol in England, who was not involved with the research, told Science News:
My gut feeling is it’s nothing to do with color, it’s to do with some other lifestyle attribute.
But this raises another question. If this trait helps animals that live in water, why has it not appeared in other aquatic mammals? Dobson said at Agence France-Presse:
Further work is definitely needed to find out why they have them.
The platypus and its unique place in nature
There is only one species of platypus, and it lives exclusively in Australia. Yet despite decades of research, this unusual animal continues to challenge what we thought we knew.
Each new discovery only deepens the mystery, confirming the platypus as one of nature’s most puzzling and fascinating creatures … a species scientists are still far from fully understanding.
Bottom line: The platypus keeps amazing scientists: even its hair hides a strange secret that, until now, only birds were known to have.
Source: A unique hollow melanosome morphology in the hairs of the platypus Ornithorhynchus anatinus
Read more:
Tasmanian devil population increases with breeding program
The gliding possum is a nocturnal acrobat of the forest
Australian lyrebirds have a hidden skill for farming
The post A new platypus mystery … hollow hairs like bird feathers! first appeared on EarthSky.
from EarthSky https://ift.tt/OqBDrRZ
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire