Imagine a creature that looks like a mashup from a child’s wildest dreams: a furry animal with the bill of a duck, the tail ...

A new study suggests the platypus and echidna — the only egg-laying mammals — had a water-dwelling ancestor. The finding ...

The platypus is the ultimate biological oddball. At first glance, it almost seems like someone stitched together leftover animal parts just for fun. It has the bill of a duck, the tail of a beaver ...

The clue leading to this conclusion comes down to a matter of bone density. Platypus bones are relatively compact, helping the duck-billed, beaver-tailed mammal remain under water with minimal effort.

The story of two of the strangest animals on the planet just got a little stranger, thanks to clues revealed by a lone fossil specimen that scientists now say represents a long-extinct ancestor.