How does it scan for prey?

By sweeping its head side to side

What does it mainly eat?

Insect larvae, shrimp and worms

What did scientists find about platypus fur in 2020?

It glows under ultraviolet light

Platypus Electroreception Quiz: Hunting With a Bill Sense

This platypus electroreception quiz explores the hidden sense that lets Australia's strangest mammal find food in murky water. Play 10 interactive questions on electroreceptors and touch sensors in the bill, closed eyes and ears, side-to-side head sweeps, cheek pouches, prey, echidnas and glowing fur.

Start Platypus Electroreception Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Sense
What is electroreception?
Organ
Where are the platypus's electroreceptors?
Count
Roughly how many electroreceptors does the bill have?
Underwater
What does a platypus close when diving?
Sweep
How does it scan for prey?
Prey
What does it mainly eat?
Pouch
Where does it store food while foraging?
Group
Which group of mammals does the platypus belong to?
Cousin
Which other animal in its group also has electroreceptors?
Glow
What did scientists find about platypus fur in 2020?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: What is electroreception?
Answer: Sensing weak electric fields
Muscles of prey give off tiny signals.
Q2: Where are the platypus's electroreceptors?
Answer: In its bill
The bill is soft and rubbery.
Q3: Roughly how many electroreceptors does the bill have?
Answer: About 40,000
It also has many touch sensors.
Q4: What does a platypus close when diving?
Answer: Its eyes, ears and nostrils
It relies on its bill.
Q5: How does it scan for prey?
Answer: By sweeping its head side to side
This helps it locate signals.
Q6: What does it mainly eat?
Answer: Insect larvae, shrimp and worms
It forages on river bottoms.
Q7: Where does it store food while foraging?
Answer: Cheek pouches
It eats at the surface.
Q8: Which group of mammals does the platypus belong to?
Answer: Monotremes
Monotremes lay eggs.
Q9: Which other animal in its group also has electroreceptors?
Answer: Echidna
Echidnas have far fewer.
Q10: What did scientists find about platypus fur in 2020?
Answer: It glows under ultraviolet light
This is called biofluorescence.

Platypus Electroreception Quiz – Hunting With a Bill Sense

The platypus lives in rivers and lakes in eastern Australia and hunts in murky water. When it dives, it closes its eyes, ears and nostrils, so it needs another way to find food.

Its soft bill holds about 40,000 electroreceptors and many touch sensors. Moving its head from side to side, it detects the tiny electric fields made by the muscles of shrimp, worms and insect larvae.

It stores prey in cheek pouches and eats at the surface. The platypus is a monotreme, an egg-laying mammal, and its cousin the echidna also has electroreceptors, though far fewer and spread across its snout.

What This Quiz Teaches

Animal fans will enjoy these questions.

What electroreception is
Where its sensors are
How it hunts
What it eats
Which relatives share the sense

Did You Know?

Male platypuses have venomous spurs on their back legs.
Platypus dives often last under two minutes.
Sharks and rays also use electroreception.
It uses its tail to store fat.
Early scientists thought it was a hoax.