Page:Babyhood of Wild Beasts.djvu/148

120 She selects the bank of a deep fresh water pool for her nest, her habits being much like our friend the muskrat's. Under these happy conditions the babies are hatched.

Can you imagine anything more amazing than to witness such an astounding revelation as a four-legged animal emerging from an egg shell? But the Platypus doesn't stop at this point. She takes the helpless, blind and hairless little baby, with his stumpy little beak, to her breast and suckles it, thus proving herself to be a full-fledged mammal.

The development of the babies is wonderful to witness. They grow a coat of soft dark brown fur, which in due time is protected by an outer coat of stiff, dark, wiry hair. For a time the bill of the Platypus is armed with teeth of a very peculiar shape, found in no other animal. The skin around and under the teeth rapidly hardens until it becomes a horny-like substance, by which time the roots are absorbed and the crowns are shed. After this unusual process has taken place, the creature grinds its food by means of the horny pads which constitute the bill.

The food is finely crushed by means of the