The platypus description of the animal for children is short. Platypus animal. Description, features, species, lifestyle and habitat of the platypus. Relationships with people

Paula Weston

Imagine the excitement of paleontologists who would be able to find fossils that resemble a mammal, but at the same time have signs of a bird and a reptile. They would probably immediately say that this is the missing link between mammals and their non-mammal ancestors.

They might have come to that conclusion were it not for living individuals pointing to the exact opposite.

The platypus, discovered at the end of the eighteenth century, puzzled academia. And to this day it raises many questions. The fact is that the body of this animal is covered with hair, like most mammals; at the same time, it has webbed feet, a nose like a duck, and a reproductive system in which young individuals first hatch from an egg and then are fed with mother's milk.

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The body length of the platypus ranges from 30 to 80 cm, and its weight is from 1 to 10 kg;

Platypuses mainly feed on insect larvae, small crayfish, tadpoles, as well as other aquatic inhabitants and give birth to offspring once a year;

In captivity, platypuses can eat half and even more than half their own weight in a day; a young platypus has teeth that fall out before the animal becomes an adult. Subsequently, horny plates appear in their place;

The body position of a platypus is similar to that of a lizard;

The platypus has no external ears;

In the cheek pouches of the platypus, food can be until it becomes possible to chew it;

The membranes on the hind legs of the platypus reach the base of the claws, and on the front legs they extend even beyond the claws, being a kind of oars for the animal during swimming;

In males on inside both hind limbs, closer to the heel, there is a sharp mobile horn-like poisonous "spur" up to 15 mm long. Scientists suggest that it is used in territorial disputes during the mating season (no one knows for sure).

Source: Encyclopedia Britannica, 15th edition, 23:353–355, 1992

In fact, when the first platypus skin was exhibited in England in 1797, everyone thought it was just a hoax, "a bad prank of some colonial joker who decided to laugh at the scientific community". Scientists could not believe that they were facing a mammal with a duck nose, webbed feet with claws and a tail like a beaver. One zoologist, convinced that all this was nothing more than fraud and forgery, tried to separate " duck nose» from the skin and was defeated; marks from his scissors can still be seen on the aforementioned specimen, which is kept in the British Museum of Natural History in London.

In the end, the existence of the platypus was reconciled, although it took ninety years of painstaking research and experiments before scientists were able to study in detail the structure of this unprecedented animal.

The platypus and the echidna (living only in Australia) are the only known representatives of the order of monotremes - mammals that lay eggs and feed their offspring with milk. But even in the latter, they differ from other mammals, because. they feed not through the nipples, but through the skin, from where milk is secreted from the ducts of the mammary glands.

How adapted is the platypus to natural environment habitat, you can see by watching his life in lakes and small rivers Eastern Australia and Tasmania. He digs the ground with his claws, and uses webbed feet for swimming (on land, the membrane protruding beyond the claws folds under the paw pads); wide flat the tail helps him dive. Its wonderful fur - 900 hairs per square millimeter of skin - has two layers: a soft undercoat and a shiny long coat. This keeps the platypus dry in the water.

The Encyclopedia Britannica says that "we know very little about its origin."

The platypus often swims, exposing only the upper part of the muzzle and a small part of the head above the water. When he is immersed in water, his eyes and ears are closed with special folds of skin. Its nose, very reminiscent of a duck, is actually a sensitive part of the muzzle, which, thanks to highly developed receptors, allows the platypus to find even the smallest food at the bottom of muddy lakes and rivers, as well as under stones.

For more than 100 years, fierce disputes have simmered between scientists about the purpose of various parts of the body of the platypus, fading briefly only during rare new discoveries (for example, in 1884 it became known that the animal lays eggs, i.e. is not viviparous).

Of greatest interest was the origin of this animal. The Encyclopedia Britannica says that "we know very little about its origin" and " most authorities agree that the monotreme order is descended from reptiles similar to mammals, different from those that gave rise to all other mammals. However, monotremes are characterized by anatomical features that many ancient mammals may have had..

Previously, scientists assumed that the platypus was "primitive" in its structure, but then discovered that this animal uses a complex method of electrolocation to search for food. To the apologists of evolution, this meant that the platypus is "a highly evolved animal, not a primitive link between reptiles and mammals."

The evolutionary development of the platypus, along with its monotreme cousin, the echidna, was thought to have occurred in isolation when the continent of Gondwana (Australia) broke away from the mainland about 225 million years ago. This idea evolutionary development in isolation was consistent with the theory of Darwin, whose evolutionary views may have been partly influenced by his early studies of the platypus aboard the Beagle.

However, discovered in the early 1990s In South America three platypus teeth, which turned out to be almost identical to the Australian platypus teeth fossils, turned this theory upside down. (Marsupials were also considered the exclusive property of Australia, but subsequently their fossilized remains were discovered on all continents). The modern adult living platypus has no teeth, but fossils discovered in Australia have shown that its relatives did have teeth that were completely different from those of other animals.

In fact, there is nothing in the fossil record to suggest that the platypus was once anything other than a platypus. This is not a "transitional" form, but a truly unique animal, which today is a stumbling block for those who are trying to fit it into the evolutionary tree of life.

Platypus electro-receptors

One of the most amazing structural features of the platypus is its beak-shaped snout, which has very sensitive nerve endings that allow the animal to recognize the electrical fields emitted by shrimp and other small animals that it feeds on.

This is very important for the platypus, as it hunts in the muddy depths of lakes and rivers, and does so with its eyes closed.

Previously, it was believed that the platypus moves blindly along the bottom, but in fact, it carefully looks for prey buried in silt, and sometimes under stones. Favorite food of the platypus - freshwater shrimp. With its tail, the shrimp creates a weak electric field, which the platypus detects at a distance of 10 cm.1

Another animal whose nose has electrical receptors is the freshwater paddlefish. When looking for its main food, tiny water fleas, its dim eyes are practically useless. Scientists have discovered that the paddlefish's nose (resembling a paddle) is dotted with thousands of tiny pores - receptors for electrical waves. These receptors are also dotted with the entire front of the head, up to the crown, as well as the gills. In short, almost half of the body surface of this fish is covered with receptors.2

In addition to the paddlefish and platypus, there are other aquatic animals that have a unique receptor system. But the electrical receptor system of the platypus is different because its nerve fibers directly excites an electrical signal, and not a chemical stimulus, as in some species of marine and freshwater fish.

Thus, scientists know two different electrosensory systems. In order to claim that they appeared due to evolution, one must have a strong belief in blind mutations (genetic errors), which, due to natural selection led to amazing results.

Moyal, A., "Platypus", Allen and Unwin, New South Wales, Australia, p. 189, 2001

When in 1797 English travelers first sent a stuffed platypus home, they took it for a fake. Neither the bird nor the beast had such an unusual appearance that some London zoologists tried to find the seams with which a duck's nose could be sewn to the body of a strange animal. But it is no coincidence that Australia is often called the "attic of the world", because only here you can meet such amazing creatures like a platypus, a kangaroo and another 150 species of various marsupial mammals, including marsupial mice and even wolves.

A small animal (30 - 40 cm) with short and soft hair, with an oar-shaped tail, having an elastic duck beak covered with soft skin and webbed feet, can move both on land (running or walking) and on water (they dive and swim excellently ). Platypuses inhabit the eastern regions of Australia and Tasmania. The female lays and incubates 1 - 3 eggs in a carefully camouflaged nest, only occasionally leaving it in search of food. The mother feeds the babies who are born with milk, which is released from special pores, flowing down the wool. Therefore, platypus cubs do not suck milk, but lick it off. In order to squeeze out the moisture accumulated in the wool, platypuses dig very narrow holes. If the awkward animal remains wet, it may catch a cold.

But clumsy at first glance, the animal is not so harmless. The hind legs of the male platypus are armed with special spurs with dangerous, like a snake, poison. marsupial mammal it is famous for its monstrous gluttony and in a short period of time it can swallow a huge number of different crustaceans, larvae and worms.

Video: Platypus (lat. Ornithorhynchus anatinus)

Video: Platypus - The World's Strangest Animal (Nature Documentary)

2 families: platypuses and echidnas
Range: Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea
Food: insects, small aquatic animals
Body length: 30 to 80 cm

Subclass oviparous mammals represented by only one detachment - single-pass. This detachment unites only two families: platypus and echidna. single pass are the most primitive living mammals. They are the only mammals that, like birds or reptiles, reproduce by laying eggs. Oviparous feed their young with milk and therefore are classified as mammals. Female echidnas and platypuses do not have nipples, and the young lick the milk secreted by the tubular mammary glands directly from the fur on the mother's belly.

amazing animals

Echidnas and platypuses- the most unusual representatives of the class of mammals. They are called single-pass, because both the intestines and the bladder of these animals open into one special cavity - the cloaca. Two oviducts in monotreme females also go there. Most mammals do not have a cloaca; this cavity is characteristic of reptiles. The stomach of oviparous is also amazing - like a bird's goiter, it does not digest food, but only stores it. Digestion takes place in the intestines. In these strange mammals, even the body temperature is lower than in others: without rising above 36 ° C, it can drop to 25 ° C, depending on environment like reptiles. Echidnas and platypuses are voiceless - they do not have vocal cords, and only young platypuses have toothless - rapidly decaying teeth.

Echidnas live up to 30 years, platypuses - up to 10. They live in forests, steppes overgrown with shrubs, and even in mountains at an altitude of up to 2500 m.

Origin and discovery of oviparous

Short Fact
Platypuses and echidnas are venomous mammals. On their hind legs they have a bone spur, through which a poisonous liquid flows. This poison causes a quick death in most animals, and in humans - severe pain and swelling. Among mammals, in addition to the platypus and echidna, only a representative of the order of insectivores is venomous - an open tooth and two species of shrews.

Like all mammals, oviparous descend from reptilian ancestors. However, they separated quite early from other mammals, choosing their own path of development and forming a separate branch in the evolution of animals. Thus, the oviparous were not the ancestors of other mammals - they developed in parallel with them and independently of them. Platypuses are more ancient animals than echidnas, which evolved from them, changed and adapted to the terrestrial way of life.

Europeans learned about the existence of egg-laying almost 100 years after the discovery of Australia, at the end of the 17th century. When the skin of a platypus was brought to the English zoologist George Shaw, he decided that he was simply played, the appearance of this bizarre creation of nature was so unusual for Europeans. And the fact that echidnas and platypuses reproduce by laying eggs has become one of the greatest zoological sensations.

Despite the fact that the echidna and the platypus have been known to science for quite a long time, these amazing animals are still presenting new discoveries to zoologists.

wonder beast, platypus as if assembled from parts of different animals: his nose is like a duck's beak, his flat tail looks like it was taken from a beaver with a shovel, webbed paws look like flippers, but are equipped with powerful claws for digging (when digging, the membrane bends, and when walking it gathers into folds, without interfering with free movement). But for all the seeming absurdity, this beast is perfectly adapted to the way of life that it leads, and has hardly changed over millions of years.

At night, the platypus hunts for small crustaceans, mollusks and other small aquatic animals. The tail-fin and webbed paws help him to dive and swim well. The eyes, ears and nostrils of the platypus close tightly in the water, and it finds its prey in the dark under water with the help of a sensitive "beak". On this leathery "beak" are electroreceptors that can pick up weak electrical impulses emitted by movement of aquatic invertebrates. Reacting to these signals, the platypus instantly searches for prey, fills the cheek pouches, and then slowly eats the caught on the shore.

All day the platypus sleeps near the pond in a hole dug by powerful claws. The platypus has a dozen such holes, and each has several exits and entrances - not an extra precaution. To breed offspring, the female platypus prepares a special hole lined with soft leaves and grass - it is warm and humid there.

Pregnancy lasts a month, and the female lays one to three leathery eggs. Mother platypus incubates eggs for 10 days, warming them with her body. Newborn tiny platypuses, 2.5 cm long, live on their mother's belly for another 4 months, feeding on milk. The female spends most of her time lying on her back and only occasionally leaves the burrow to feed. Leaving, the platypus wall up the cubs in the nest so that no one will disturb them until she returns. At the age of 5 months, matured platypuses become independent and leave their mother's hole.

Platypuses were mercilessly exterminated because of their valuable fur, but now, fortunately, they are taken under the strictest protection, and their numbers have increased again.

A relative of the platypus, it does not look like him at all. She, like the platypus, is an excellent swimmer, but she does it only for pleasure: she does not know how to dive and get food under water.

Another important difference: the echidna has brood bag- pocket on the belly, where she puts the egg. The female, although she raises her cubs in a comfortable hole, can safely leave her - an egg or a newborn cub in her pocket is reliably protected from the vicissitudes of fate. At the age of 50 days, the little echidna already leaves the bag, but for about 5 months it lives in a hole under the auspices of a caring mother.

Echidna lives on the ground and feeds on insects, mainly ants and termites. Raking termite mounds with strong paws with hard claws, it extracts insects with a long and sticky tongue. The body of the echidna is protected by needles, and in case of danger it curls up into a ball, like an ordinary hedgehog, exposing the enemy with a prickly back.

wedding ceremony

From May to September, the mating season begins for the echidna. At this time, the female echidna enjoys special attention from males. They line up and follow her in single file. The procession is led by the female, and the grooms follow her in order of seniority - the youngest and most inexperienced close the chain. So, in a company, echidnas spend a whole month, looking for food together, traveling and relaxing.

But the rivals cannot coexist peacefully for long. Demonstrating their strength and passion, they begin to dance around the chosen one, raking the ground with their claws. The female finds herself in the center of a circle formed by a deep furrow, and the males begin to fight, pushing each other out of the ring-shaped pit. The winner of the tournament gets the favor of the female.

(Ornithorhynchidae); together with echidnas, it forms a detachment of monotremes (Monotremata) - mammals, in a number of ways close to reptiles. This unique animal is one of the symbols of Australia; it is depicted on the reverse of the Australian 20 cent coin.

History of study

The platypus was discovered in the 18th century during the colonization of New South Wales. A list of the animals of this colony published in 1802 mentions "an amphibious animal of the genus Mole. Its most curious quality is that it has, instead of an ordinary mouth, a duck's beak, which allows it to feed in the silt, like birds.

The first platypus skin was sent to England in 1797. Its appearance has generated fierce debate among the scientific community. At first, the skin was considered the product of some taxidermist, who sewed a duck's beak to the skin of an animal that looked like a beaver. This suspicion was dispelled by George Shaw, who studied the package and came to the conclusion that it was not a fake (for this, Shaw even cut the skin in search of stitches). The question arose of which group of animals the platypus belongs to. Already after he received his scientific name, the first animals were delivered to England, and it turned out that the female platypus has no visible mammary glands, but this animal, like birds, has a cloaca. For a quarter of a century, scientists could not decide where to attribute the platypus - to mammals, birds, reptiles, or even to a separate class, until in 1824 the German biologist Meckel discovered that the platypus still has mammary glands and the female feeds her cubs with milk. That the platypus lays eggs was only proven in 1884.

The zoological name for this strange animal was given in 1799 by the English naturalist George Shaw - Platypus anatinus, from other Greek. πλατύς - wide, flat, πούς - paw and lat. anatinus- duck. In 1800, Johann-Friedrich Blumenbach, in order to avoid homonymy with the genus of bark beetles Platypus changed generic name to Ornithorhynchus, from other Greek. ὄρνις - bird, ῥύγχος - beak. The Aborigines of Australia knew the platypus by many names, including mallangong, boondaburra And Tambreet. Early European settlers called it "platypus" (duckbill), "duck-mole" (duckmole) and "water mole" (watermole). The name currently used in English is platypus.

Appearance

The body length of the platypus is 30-40 cm, the tail is 10-15 cm, it weighs up to 2 kg. Males are about a third larger than females. The body of the platypus is squat, short-legged; the tail is flattened, similar to the tail of a beaver, but covered with hair, which thins noticeably with age. In the tail of the platypus, like the Tasmanian devil, reserves of fat are deposited. Its fur is thick, soft, usually dark brown on the back and reddish or gray on the belly. The head is round. Anteriorly, the facial section is elongated into a flat beak about 65 mm long and 50 mm wide. The beak is not hard, like in birds, but soft, covered with elastic bare skin, which is stretched over two thin, long, arched bones. The oral cavity is expanded into cheek pouches, in which food is stored during feeding. Down at the base of the beak, males have a specific gland that produces a secretion with a musky smell. Young platypuses have 8 teethhowever, they are fragile and wear out quickly, giving way to keratinized plates.

The paws of the platypus are five-fingered, adapted for both swimming and digging. The swimming membrane on the front paws protrudes in front of the toes, but can be bent in such a way that the claws are exposed outward, turning the swimming limb into a digging one. The webs on the hind legs are much less developed; for swimming, the platypus does not use its hind legs, like other semi-aquatic animals, but its front legs. The hind legs act as a rudder in the water, and the tail serves as a stabilizer. The gait of the platypus on land is more reminiscent of the gait of a reptile - he puts his legs on the sides of the body.

Its nasal openings open on the upper side of the beak. There are no auricles. The eyes and ear openings are located in the grooves on the sides of the head. When the animal dives, the edges of these grooves, like the valves of the nostrils, close, so that neither sight, nor hearing, nor smell can function under water. However, the skin of the beak is rich in nerve endings, and this provides the platypus not only with a highly developed sense of touch, but also with the ability to electrolocate. Electroreceptors in the bill can detect weak electric fields, such as those produced by crustacean muscle contractions, which aid the platypus in its search for prey. When looking for it, the platypus continuously moves its head from side to side during spearfishing.

Organ systems

Features of the sense organs

The platypus is the only mammal that has developed electroreception. Electroreceptors have also been found in the echidna, but its use of electroreception is unlikely to play an important role in finding prey.

Features of metabolism

The platypus has a remarkably low metabolism compared to other mammals; his normal body temperature is only 32°C. However, at the same time, he perfectly knows how to regulate body temperature. So, being in water at 5 ° C, the platypus can maintain normal temperature body by increasing the metabolic rate by more than 3 times.

platypus venom

The platypus is one of the few venomous mammals (along with some shrews and flint teeth that have toxic saliva, as well as slow lorises, the only known venomous primate genus).

Young platypuses of both sexes have rudiments of horn spurs on their hind legs. In females, by the age of one year, they disappear, while in males they continue to grow, reaching 1.2-1.5 cm in length by the time of puberty. Each spur is connected by a duct to the femoral gland, which produces a complex "cocktail" of poisons during the mating season. Males use spurs during courtship fights. Platypus venom can kill a dingo or other small animal. For a person, it is generally not fatal, but it causes very severe pain, and edema develops at the injection site, which gradually spreads to the entire limb. Pain (hyperalgesia) can last for many days or even months.

Lifestyle and nutrition

reproduction

Every year, platypuses fall into a 5-10-day hibernation, after which they have a breeding season. It continues from August to November. Mating takes place in the water. The male bites the female by the tail, and for some time the animals swim in a circle, after which mating takes place (in addition, 4 more variants of the courtship ritual were recorded). The male covers several females; platypuses do not form permanent pairs.

After mating, the female digs a brood burrow. Unlike the usual burrow, it is longer and ends with a nesting chamber. Inside, a nest is built from stems and leaves; The female wears the material, pressing her tail to her stomach. She then plugs the corridor with one or more earth plugs 15-20 cm thick to protect the burrow from predators and floods. The female makes plugs with the help of her tail, which she uses like a mason's trowel. The nest inside is always damp, which prevents the eggs from drying out. The male does not take part in the construction of the burrow and the rearing of the young.

2 weeks after mating, the female lays 1-3 (usually 2) eggs. Platypus eggs are similar to reptile eggs - they are round, small (11 mm in diameter) and covered with an off-white leathery shell. After laying, the eggs stick together with a sticky substance that covers them from the outside. Incubation lasts up to 10 days; during incubation, the female rarely leaves the burrow and usually lies curled up around the eggs.

Platypus cubs are born naked and blind, about 2.5 cm long. When they hatch from an egg, they pierce the shell with an egg tooth, which falls off immediately after leaving the egg. The female, lying on her back, moves them to her belly. She doesn't have a pouch. The mother feeds the cubs with milk, which comes out through enlarged pores on her stomach. Milk flows down the mother's coat, accumulating in special grooves, and the cubs lick it off. The mother leaves the offspring only for a short time to feed and dry the skin; leaving, she clogs the entrance with soil. The eyes of the cubs open at 11 weeks. Milk feeding lasts up to 4 months; at 17 weeks, the cubs begin to leave the hole to hunt. Young platypuses reach sexual maturity at the age of 1 year.

The lifespan of platypuses in nature is unknown; in captivity, they live an average of 10 years.

Population status and protection

Platypuses used to be an object of trade because of their valuable fur, but at the beginning of the 20th century, hunting for them was prohibited. Currently, their population is considered relatively stable, although due to water pollution and habitat degradation, the range of the platypus is becoming more and more mosaic. The rabbits brought by the colonists also caused some damage, which, digging holes, disturbed the platypuses, forcing them to leave their inhabited places.

The Australians have created a special system of reserves and "shelters" (sanctuary), where platypuses can feel safe. Among them, the best known are Hillsville Reserve in Victoria and West Burley in Queensland. The platypus is an easily excitable, shy animal, so for a long time it was not possible to export platypuses to zoos in other countries. The platypus was first successfully exported abroad in 1922 to the New York Zoo, but it only lived there for 49 days. Attempts to breed platypuses in captivity have been successful only a few times.

Platypus evolution

Monotremes are the surviving representatives of one of the earliest branches of mammals. The oldest monotreme discovered in Australia is 110 million years old ( Steropodon). It was a small, rodent-like animal that was nocturnal and, most likely, did not lay eggs, but gave birth to severely underdeveloped cubs. The fossil tooth of another fossil platypus (Obdurodon), found in 1991 in Patagonia (Argentina), indicates that, most likely, the ancestors of the platypus came to Australia from South America, when these continents were part of the Gondwana supercontinent. The closest ancestors of the modern platypus appeared about 4.5 million years ago, while the earliest fossil specimen actually Ornithorhynchus anatinus dated to the Pleistocene. Fossil platypuses resembled modern ones, but were smaller in size.

In May 2008, it was announced that the platypus genome had been deciphered.

Platypuses in culture

Platypuses are the heroes of several animated series, such as Phineas and Ferb and The Tasmanian Devil.

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Notes

Literature

• M. L. Augee: Platypus and Echidnas. The Royal Zoological Society, New South Wales 1992. ISBN 0-9599951-6-1.
• T. R. Grant: Fauna of Australia. 16. Ornithorhynchidae.
• Bernhard Grzimek: Grzimeks Tierleben. Bd 10. Säugetiere 1. Droemer Knaur, München 1967, Bechtermünz, Augsburg 2000. ISBN 3-8289-1603-1.
• Ann Moyal: Platypus. The Extraordinary Story of How a Curious Creature Baffled the World . Smithsonian Press, Washington DC 2001. ISBN 1-56098-977-7.
• Ronald Strahan: Mammals of Australia. Smithsonian Press, Washington DC 1996. ISBN 1-56098-673-5.
• Jaime Gongora, Amelia B. Swan et al.: . Journal of Zoology. Vol. 286, Iss. 2, pp. 110–119, February 2012 .

Links

• .
• .
• (English)
• Jaime Gongora, Amelia B. Swan et al.,: Genetic structure and phylogeography of platypuses revealed by mitochondrial DNA. Journal of Zoology. Vol. 286, Iss. 2, pp. 110–119, February 2012 .

An excerpt characterizing the Platypus

Meanwhile, the Russian emperor had already been living in Vilna for more than a month, making reviews and maneuvers. Nothing was ready for the war, which everyone expected and in preparation for which the emperor had come from Petersburg. There was no general plan of action. The hesitations as to which plan, of all those proposed, should be adopted, only intensified after the emperor's month-long stay in the main apartment. In the three armies there was a separate commander-in-chief in each, but there was no common commander over all the armies, and the emperor did not assume this title.
The longer the emperor lived in Vilna, the less and less they prepared for war, tired of waiting for it. All the aspirations of the people surrounding the sovereign, it seemed, were aimed only at making the sovereign, while having a good time, forget about the upcoming war.
After many balls and holidays with the Polish magnates, with the courtiers and with the sovereign himself, in the month of June, one of the Polish adjutant generals of the sovereign had the idea to give dinner and a ball to the sovereign on behalf of his adjutant generals. This idea was welcomed by all. The Emperor agreed. The adjutant general collected money by subscription. The person who could be most pleasing to the sovereign was invited to be the hostess of the ball. Count Benigsen, a landowner in the Vilna province, offered his country house for this holiday, and on June 13 a dinner, a ball, boating and fireworks in Zakret were scheduled, country house Count Benigsen.
On the very day on which Napoleon gave the order to cross the Neman and his advanced troops, pushing back the Cossacks, crossed the Russian border, Alexander spent the evening at Benigsen's dacha - at a ball given by the general's adjutants.
It was a cheerful, brilliant holiday; experts in the business said that so many beauties rarely gathered in one place. Countess Bezukhova, among other Russian ladies who came for the sovereign from St. Petersburg to Vilna, was at this ball, obscuring the sophisticated Polish ladies with her heavy, so-called Russian beauty. She was noticed, and the sovereign honored her with a dance.
Boris Drubetskoy, en garcon (a bachelor), as he said, having left his wife in Moscow, was also at this ball and, although not an adjutant general, was a large participant in the subscription for the ball. Boris was now a rich man, far gone in honors, no longer seeking protection, but standing on an equal footing with the highest of his peers.
At twelve o'clock in the morning they were still dancing. Helen, who did not have a worthy gentleman, herself offered the mazurka to Boris. They sat in the third pair. Boris, coolly looking at Helen's shiny bare shoulders, protruding from a dark gauze dress with gold, talked about old acquaintances and at the same time, imperceptibly to himself and others, did not stop watching the sovereign for a second, who was in the same hall. The sovereign did not dance; he stood at the door and stopped one or the other with those affectionate words which he alone knew how to speak.
At the beginning of the mazurka, Boris saw that Adjutant General Balashev, one of the closest persons to the sovereign, approached him and stopped courtly close to the sovereign, who was talking to a Polish lady. After talking with the lady, the emperor looked inquiringly and, apparently realizing that Balashev did this only because there were important reasons for this, nodded slightly to the lady and turned to Balashev. Balashev had just begun to speak, as surprise was expressed on the sovereign's face. He took Balashev's arm and walked with him through the hall, unconsciously clearing for himself on both sides of the sazhens for three broad roads that stood aside in front of him. Boris noticed the agitated face of Arakcheev, while the sovereign went with Balashev. Arakcheev, looking frowningly at the sovereign and sniffing his red nose, moved out of the crowd, as if expecting the sovereign to turn to him. (Boris realized that Arakcheev was jealous of Balashev and was dissatisfied with the fact that some, obviously important, news was not transmitted to the sovereign through him.)
But the sovereign with Balashev passed, without noticing Arakcheev, through the exit door into the illuminated garden. Arakcheev, holding his sword and looking around angrily, walked twenty paces behind them.
As long as Boris continued to make the figures of the mazurka, he never ceased to be tormented by the thought of what kind of news Balashev brought and how to find out before others.
In the figure where he had to choose the ladies, whispering to Helen that he wanted to take Countess Pototskaya, who, it seems, went out onto the balcony, he, sliding his feet on the parquet, ran out the exit door into the garden and, noticing the sovereign entering with Balashev on the terrace , paused. The Emperor and Balashev were heading for the door. Boris, in a hurry, as if not having time to move away, respectfully pressed himself against the lintel and bent his head.
The sovereign, with the excitement of a personally offended person, finished the following words:
- Without declaring war, enter Russia. I will make peace only when not a single armed enemy remains on my land,” he said. As it seemed to Boris, it was pleasant for the sovereign to express these words: he was pleased with the form of expression of his thoughts, but was dissatisfied with the fact that Boris heard them.
- so that no one knows anything! added the sovereign, frowning. Boris realized that this was referring to him, and, closing his eyes, tilted his head slightly. The emperor again entered the hall and stayed at the ball for about half an hour.
Boris was the first to learn the news of the crossing of the Neman by the French troops, and thanks to this he had the opportunity to show some important persons that much hidden from others is known to him, and through this he had the opportunity to rise higher in the opinion of these persons.

The unexpected news that the French had crossed the Neman was especially unexpected after a month of unfulfilled expectations, and at the ball! The emperor, in the first minute of receiving the news, under the influence of indignation and insult, found that, which later became famous, a saying that he himself liked and fully expressed his feelings. Returning home from the ball, at two in the morning the sovereign sent for Secretary Shishkov and ordered him to write an order to the troops and a rescript to Field Marshal Prince Saltykov, in which he certainly demanded that the words be placed that he would not reconcile until at least one an armed Frenchman will remain on Russian soil.
The next day it was written next letter to Napoleon.
Monsieur mon frere. J "ai appris hier que malgre la loyaute avec laquelle j" ai maintenu mes engagements envers Votre Majeste, ses troupes ont franchis les frontieres de la Russie, et je recois a l "instant de Petersbourg une note par laquelle le comte Lauriston, pour cause de cette agression, annonce que votre majeste s "est consideree comme en etat de guerre avec moi des le moment ou le prince Kourakine a fait la demande de ses passeports. Les motifs sur lesquels le duc de Bassano fondait son refus de les lui delivrer, n "auraient jamais pu me faire supposer que cette demarche servirait jamais de pretexte a l" agression. En effet cet ambassadeur n "y a jamais ete autorise comme il l" a declare lui meme, et aussitot que j "en fus informe, je lui ai fait connaitre combien je le desapprouvais en lui donnant l" ordre de rester a son poste. Si Votre Majeste n "est pas intentionnee de verser le sang de nos peuples pour un malentendu de ce genre et qu" elle consente a retirer ses troupes du territoire russe, je regarderai ce qui s "est passe comme non avenu, et un accommodement entre nous sera possible. Dans le cas contraire, Votre Majeste, je me verrai force de repousser une attaque que rien n "a provoquee de ma part. Il depend encore de Votre Majeste d "eviter a l" humanite les calamites d "une nouvelle guerre.
Je suis, etc.
(signe) Alexandre.
["My lord brother! Yesterday it dawned on me that, despite the frankness with which I observed my obligations in relation to Your Imperial Majesty, Your troops crossed the Russian borders, and only now received a note from St. Petersburg, which Count Lauriston informs me about this invasion, that Your Majesty considers yourself in hostile relations with me since the time when Prince Kurakin demanded his passports. The reasons on which the Duke of Bassano based his refusal to issue these passports could never have led me to suppose that my ambassador's act was the occasion for the attack. And in fact, he had no order from me to do so, as he himself announced; and as soon as I found out about this, I immediately expressed my displeasure to Prince Kurakin, ordering him to fulfill the duties entrusted to him as before. If Your Majesty is not disposed to shed the blood of our subjects because of such a misunderstanding, and if you agree to withdraw your troops from the Russian possessions, then I will ignore everything that has happened, and an agreement between us will be possible. Otherwise, I will be forced to repel an attack that was not initiated by anything on my part. Your Majesty, you still have the opportunity to save humanity from the scourge of a new war.
(signed) Alexander. ]

On June 13, at two o'clock in the morning, the sovereign, having called Balashev to him and read his letter to Napoleon to him, ordered him to take this letter and personally hand it over to the French emperor. Sending Balashev, the sovereign again repeated to him the words that he would not reconcile until at least one armed enemy remained on Russian soil, and ordered that these words be conveyed to Napoleon without fail. The emperor did not write these words in a letter, because he felt with his tact that these words were inconvenient to convey at the moment when the last attempt at reconciliation was being made; but he certainly ordered Balashev to hand them over to Napoleon personally.
Leaving on the night of June 13-14, Balashev, accompanied by a trumpeter and two Cossacks, arrived at dawn in the village of Rykonty, at the French outposts on this side of the Neman. He was stopped by French cavalry sentries.
A French hussar non-commissioned officer, in a crimson uniform and a shaggy hat, shouted at Balashev, who was approaching, ordering him to stop. Balashev did not immediately stop, but continued to move along the road at a pace.
The non-commissioned officer, frowning and muttering some kind of curse, advanced with his horse's chest on Balashev, took up his saber and rudely shouted at the Russian general, asking him: is he deaf that he does not hear what they say to him. Balashev named himself. The non-commissioned officer sent a soldier to the officer.
Paying no attention to Balashev, the non-commissioned officer began to talk with his comrades about his regimental affairs and did not look at the Russian general.
It was extraordinarily strange for Balashev, after being close to the highest power and might, after a conversation three hours ago with the sovereign and generally accustomed to honors in his service, to see here, on Russian soil, this hostile and, most importantly, disrespectful attitude of brute force towards himself.
The sun was just beginning to rise from behind the clouds; the air was fresh and dewy. On the way, the herd was driven out of the village. In the fields, one by one, like bubbles in water, the larks burst up with a chuckle.
Balashev looked around him, waiting for the arrival of an officer from the village. The Russian Cossacks, and the trumpeter, and the French hussars silently looked at each other from time to time.
A French hussar colonel, apparently just out of bed, rode out of the village on a handsome, well-fed gray horse, accompanied by two hussars. On the officer, on the soldiers and on their horses there was a look of contentment and panache.
This was the first time of the campaign, when the troops were still in good order, almost equal to a lookout, peaceful activity, only with a touch of elegant militancy in clothes and with a moral touch of that fun and enterprise that always accompany the beginning of campaigns.
The French colonel could hardly hold back a yawn, but he was courteous and, apparently, understood the full significance of Balashev. He led him past his soldiers by the chain and informed him that his desire to be presented to the emperor would probably be immediately fulfilled, since the imperial apartment, as far as he knew, was not far away.
They passed the village of Rykonty, past the French hussar hitching posts, sentries and soldiers saluting their colonel and examining the Russian uniform with curiosity, and drove to the other side of the village. According to the colonel, the head of the division was two kilometers away, who would receive Balashev and escort him to his destination.
The sun had already risen and shone cheerfully on the bright greenery.
They had just left behind the inn on the mountain, when a group of horsemen appeared to meet them from under the mountain, in front of which, on a black horse with a harness shining in the sun, rode a tall man in a hat with feathers and black hair curled to the shoulders, in a red mantle and with long legs sticking out forward, as the French ride. This man galloped towards Balashev, shining and fluttering in the bright June sun with his feathers, stones and gold galloons.
Balashev was already at a distance of two horses from the rider galloping towards him with a solemnly theatrical face in bracelets, feathers, necklaces and gold, when Yulner, a French colonel, whispered respectfully: "Le roi de Naples." [King of Naples.] Indeed, it was Murat, now called the Neapolitan king. Although it was completely incomprehensible why he was a Neapolitan king, he was called that, and he himself was convinced of this and therefore had a more solemn and important air than before. He was so sure that he was really the Neapolitan king that, on the eve of his departure from Naples, during his walk with his wife through the streets of Naples, several Italians shouted to him: “Viva il re!”, [Long live the king! (Italian)] he turned to his wife with a sad smile and said: “Les malheureux, ils ne savent pas que je les quitte demain! [Unfortunate, they don't know that I'm leaving them tomorrow!]
But despite the fact that he firmly believed that he was a Neapolitan king, and that he regretted the sorrow of his subjects who were leaving him, in recent times, after he was ordered to enter the service again, and especially after a meeting with Napoleon in Danzig, when the august brother-in-law said to him: “Je vous ai fait Roi pour regner a maniere, mais pas a la votre”, [I made you king in order to reign not according to my own, but according to mine.] - he cheerfully began for a business familiar to him and, like a horse that was fried, but not fat, fit for service, sensing himself in a harness, played in the shafts and, discharged as colorfully and expensively as possible, cheerful and contented, galloped, not knowing where and why, along the roads Poland.
Seeing the Russian general, he royally, solemnly, threw back his head with his hair curled to his shoulders and looked inquiringly at the French colonel. The colonel respectfully conveyed to His Majesty the meaning of Balashev, whose name he could not pronounce.
– De Bal macheve! - said the king (with his determination overcoming the difficulty presented to the colonel), - charme de faire votre connaissance, general, [it is very nice to meet you, general] - he added with a royally gracious gesture. As soon as the king began to speak loudly and quickly, all royal dignity instantly left him, and he, without noticing it himself, switched to his usual tone of good-natured familiarity. He put his hand on the withers of Balashev's horse.

The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is an Australian waterfowl from the monotreme order. The platypus is the only modern representative of the platypus family.

Appearance and description

The body length of an adult platypus can vary between 30-40 cm. The tail is 10-15 cm long, most often it weighs about two kilograms. The body of the male is about a third larger than the body of the female.. The body is squat, with fairly short legs. The tail part is flattened, with the accumulation of fat reserves, similar to a beaver's tail, covered with wool. The fur of the platypus is quite thick and soft, dark brown on the back, and with a reddish or gray tint on the ventral part.

This is interesting! Platypuses have a low metabolism, and normal performance the body temperature of this mammal does not exceed 32°C. The animal easily regulates body temperature, increasing the metabolic rate several times.

The head is rounded, with an elongated facial region, turning into a flat and soft beak, which is covered with elastic skin stretched over a pair of thin and long, arcuate bones. The length of the beak can reach 6.5 cm with a width of 5 cm. oral cavity is the presence of cheek pouches used by the animal to store food. The lower part or base of the beak in males has a specific gland that produces a secret that has a characteristic musky odor. Juveniles have eight fragile and rapidly worn teeth, which eventually give way to keratinized plates.

The five-toed paws of platypuses are perfectly adapted not only for swimming, but also for digging soil in the coastal zone. The swimming membranes, located on the front paws, protrude in front of the fingers, and are able to bend, revealing fairly sharp and strong claws. The webbed part on the hind legs has a very weak development, therefore, in the process of swimming with a platypus, it is used as a kind of stabilizer rudder. When moving on land, the gait of this mammal is similar to that of a reptile.

On the top of the beak are nasal openings. A feature of the structure of the head of the platypus is the absence of auricles, and the auditory openings and eyes are located in special grooves on the sides of the head. When diving, the edges of the auditory, visual and olfactory openings quickly close, and their functions are taken over by the skin rich in nerve endings on the beak. A kind of electrolocation helps a mammal to easily detect prey in the process of spearfishing.

Habitat and lifestyle

Until 1922, the platypus population was found exclusively in its homeland - the territory of eastern Australia. The distribution area stretches from the territory of Tasmania and the Australian Alps to the outskirts of Queensland.. Main population oviparous mammal currently distributed exclusively in eastern Australia and Tasmania. The mammal, as a rule, leads a secretive way of life and inhabits the coastal part of medium-sized rivers or natural reservoirs with stagnant water.

This is interesting! The closest species of mammal related to the platypus is the echidna and prochidna, together with which the platypus belongs to the monotreme (Monotremata) or oviparous order, and in some ways resembles reptiles.

Platypuses prefer water with temperatures ranging from 25.0-29.9°C, but avoid brackish water. The dwelling of a mammal is represented by a short and straight hole, the length of which can reach ten meters. Each such hole necessarily has two entrances and a comfortable inner chamber. One entrance is necessarily underwater, and the second is located under the root system of trees or in fairly dense thickets.

Platypus nutrition

Platypuses are excellent swimmers and divers, and are able to stay underwater for up to five minutes. IN aquatic environment this unusual animal is able to spend a third of the day, which is due to the need to eat a significant amount of food, the volume of which often makes up a quarter of the total weight of the platypus.

The main period of activity falls on twilight and night hours.. The entire volume of food of the platypus is made up of small aquatic animals that fall into the beak of a mammal after it stirs up the bottom of the reservoir. The diet can be represented by various crustaceans, worms, insect larvae, tadpoles, mollusks and various aquatic vegetation. After the food is collected in the cheek pouches, the animal rises to the water surface and grinds it with the help of horny jaws.

Platypus breeding

Every year, platypuses fall into hibernation, which can last five to ten days. Immediately after hibernation in mammals, the phase begins active breeding which falls between August and last decade november. Mating of a semi-aquatic animal occurs in water.

To attract attention, the male slightly bites the female by the tail, after which the couple swims in a circle for some time. The final stage of such peculiar mating games is mating. Platypus males are polygamous and do not form stable pairs. During his entire life, one male is able to cover a significant number of females. Attempts to breed platypus in captivity rarely end successfully.

hatching eggs

Immediately after mating, the female begins to dig a brood burrow, which is longer than the usual platypus burrow and has a special nesting chamber. Inside such a chamber, a nest is built from plant stems and foliage. To protect the nest from attack by predators and water, the female blocks the corridor of the hole with special plugs from the ground. The average thickness of each such plug is 15-20 cm. To make an earth plug, the female uses the tail part, wielding it like a construction trowel.

This is interesting! Constant humidity inside the created nest helps to protect the eggs laid by the female platypus from destructive drying out. Egg laying occurs about a couple of weeks after mating.

As a rule, there are a couple of eggs in one clutch, but their number can vary from one to three.. Platypus eggs look like reptile eggs and have a rounded shape. The average diameter of an egg covered with a dirty whitish, leathery shell does not exceed a centimeter. The laid eggs are held together by a sticky substance that covers the outside of the shell. The incubation period lasts approximately ten days, and the incubating female rarely leaves the nest.

Platypus cubs

The platypus cubs that are born are naked and blind. The length of their body does not exceed 2.5-3.0 cm. To hatch, the cub breaks through the shell of the egg with a special tooth, which falls off immediately after hatching. Turning over on her back, the female places the hatched cubs on her belly. Milk feeding is carried out using greatly expanded pores located on the female's abdomen.

Milk flowing down the hairs of wool accumulates inside special grooves, where the cubs find it and lick it off. Baby platypuses open their eyes after about three months, and milk feeding continues until four months, after which the kids begin to gradually leave the hole and hunt on their own. Puberty of young platypuses occurs at the age of twelve months. The average life expectancy of a platypus in captivity does not exceed ten years.

Platypus Enemies

Under natural conditions, the platypus does not have a large number enemies. This very unusual mammal can become quite easy prey for pythons and sometimes swim in river waters. It should be remembered that platypuses belong to the category of poisonous mammals and young individuals have the beginnings of horny spurs on their hind limbs.

This is interesting! Most often, dogs were used to catch platypuses, which could catch the animal not only on land, but also in water, but for the most part, the “catchers” died on the cut after the platypus began to use poisonous spurs for protection.

By the age of one year, females lose this method of protection, while in males, on the contrary, the spurs increase in size and reach a length of one and a half centimeters by the stage of puberty. The spurs are connected through ducts to the femoral glands, which produce a complex poisonous mixture during the mating season. Such poisonous spurs are used by males in mating fights and for the purpose of protection from predators. Platypus venom is not dangerous to humans, but can cause enough