Platypus

The platypus is a distinctly Australian beast: a product of isolation, necessity and a measure of mettle. A mixture of mammal and reptile, they are neither here nor there; the awkward, bastard child sequestered away to secluded waterways.

• A baby platypus drinks milk from its mother not from a nipple, but via milk which is secreted out of pores on the mother’s skin.
• Although it nurses its young, a platypus lays eggs.
• Platypuses have no immune system, but synthesise their own antibiotics.
• They are aware of electrical signals, and use these for navigating underwater. They only use their eyes above water.
• Males produce a venom which is released via a spur on their heels.
• Instead of two sex chromosomes like humans (XY or XX), a male platypus has XYXYXYXYXY or XXXXXXXXXX for females.
• A platypus has a single, convenient hole for evacuating waste (numbers 1 and 2), laying eggs, and mating.

There’s no mention of what platypus meat tastes like, but I bet with all the aforementioned magical properties surely it’s anything but chicken-like.