What are egg laying mammals called, and what animals are considered to be this?

daBomb619

They are called monotremes; the only two animals to fit this description are the platypus and the echidna (or spiny anteater, if you prefer). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotreme Jun 18 09, 6:12 PM

detroyt05

Egg laying mammals are called Monotremes. http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/mammal/monotreme.html Jun 18 09, 6:12 PM

ozfei

The only monotremes are the Platypus and the Echidna, both of which are native to Australia. http://www.life.umd.edu/classroom/bsci338m/Lectures/Monotremes.html Jun 18 09, 6:13 PM

FrogJesus

Egg laying mammals are called monotremes. There are only two known species of monotreme, the platypus and the echidna. Both are native to Australia. www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/390160/monotreme Jun 18 09, 6:15 PM

star_gazer

Correct! The platypus is also called the duckbill. I wonder if their eggs taste good scrambled? Jun 18 09, 6:38 PM

Baloo55th

I can't so far find any real evidence that people do eat the eggs. They're only the size of a fingernail to start with, http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A16957056 and are laid in burrows as well. The only mentions I've found of eating them appear at first sight to be nonsense (blog stuff). I'm surprised that there doesn't seem to be anything about the Aboriginal peoples eating them. Jun 19 09, 3:50 AM