What type of mammals lays eggs?

Monotremes are mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young like marsupials and placental mammals. There are only a few surviving representatives of the order on the planet, and all of them are concentrated in Australia and New Guinea. Such Australian animals as the platypus and 4 species of echidnas are the existing examples of monotreme species. Many people know about them, as they are considered one of the symbols of the Australian animal kingdom. Such their feature as laying eggs is less known and remains quite an interesting piece of trivia.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org

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35 Comments

John W Shreve

There is one human who laid an egg. When I was about 2, my mom took me to the pediatrician (who had delivered me). I was giggling, whining and throwing stuff. The Dr. rolled his eyes and said to my mom, "You really laid an egg this time."

Louise C.

Great question for we who live down under and are lucky enough to have such amazing creatures as part of our native wildlife. It is very hard to see a Platypus as they are very shy but when you do get to see them in the wild it is very awe inspiring.

billyboy915

Gery Tillmanns, I have frequently seen very helpful and informative comments from williamrlaughlin. Maybe you only notice what you deem to be negative. In fact he is correct about the annoying and cloyingly fawning Mr johnespo. He praises every single submission with almost the exact same wording. Johnespo is the brown-nosing champion of the world or haven't you noticed?

DannyBoy

williamrlaughlin, Nice try Bill, but I seriously don't think you're going to have any better luck with him than anyone else has. I think jonespo has issues beyond fixing with our comments. Obviously.

Rob Farr

An easy one for us Aussies ... thanks.

Joy Holbrook

The world’s only two monotremes are native to Australia. They are the platypus and the echidna.

David Holmes

williamrlaughlin, I am primarily interested in increasing my general knowledge. I do notice the eccentric and frequently poor English used, however not being a nit picker I seldom bother to comment. I can usually grasp the meaning.

Carole Benner

What wud u do without google? johnespo,

Nick Hand

A few people writing on this comments page seem to have misunderstood the question. To clarify: monotremes are an order of mammals, not a species. There are three species of monotreme: the platypus and two species of echidna.