Monotremata are a group of animals that fascinated early zoologists for years because of their reptilian and mammalian characteristics. Like reptiles, they are egg-laying organisms with a cloaca! They also possess a bone structure in their shoulder girdle that is very similar to that of reptiles. However, like mammals, they have fur and the females suckle their young. (They do not have teats.) All the existing Monotremata are native to Australia and New Guinea. The animals in this order, the platypus and echidna, have an elongated, horned snout, flattened in the former and tubular in the latter. In addition, the adults do not have teeth, but horny plates. This is why, in 1798, when a complete platypus skin with beaver-like fur, a flat tail and a duck’s beak arrived at the British Museum, everyone agreed that it could only be the product of a chimera!