Fauna of Australia species are nocturnal and many arboreal. Two of the five living species of monotreme occur in Australia: the platypus and the short-beaked echidna. The monotremes differ from other mammals in their methods of reproduction; in particular, they lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young. The platypus—a venomous, egg-laying, duck-billed amphibious mammal—is considered to be one of the strangest creatures in the animal kingdom. When it was first presented by Joseph Banks to English naturalists it was thought to be so strange that it was a cleverly created hoax. The short-beaked echidna is similarly strange, covered in hairy spikes
Mammal Species of the World In its Annual Report for 2015, the Committee noted that it is under contract with Johns Hopkins Press for the 4th edition of MSW, which will be edited by DeeAnn M. Reeder and Kristofer M. Helgen. The database has been made editable for the authors, leading to more frequent website updates. The publication was due in 2017. Mammal Species of the World Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference is a standard reference work in mammalogy giving descriptions and bibliographic data for the known species of mammals. It is now in its third edition, published in late