History Main / PuzzlingPlatypus

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': In ''Literature/TheLastContinent'', Creator/TerryPratchett runs with the Australian joke (see the Comedy folder): the wizards of Unseen University end up in pre-creation [[UsefulNotes/{{Australia}} Fourecks]], just in time to witness the Creator at work[[note]]the Aborigine [[TheMaker Creator-God]], although the TricksterGod is not far away[[/note]] bringing forth the beasts of the field and the fowl of the air and the fish of the water. They hijack his toolkit, wanting to join in, and try to design a duck...

* In the ''Fanfic/APinkPlanet'' fanfic ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/20128981/chapters/47686096 Budding]]'', the Morganite working at the Coral Facility is given data on the platypus and finds it to be one of the most bizarre things to come from the Earth, and ''she's'' been in charge of the creation of geminals (half-gem, half-organic lifeforms) for centuries.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* ''Dot and the Kangaroo'' features a song about Mr. and Mrs. Platypus singing about their peculiar qualities, as an "Ornithorhynchus paradoxus" (an outdated Latin name for the platypus).

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* ''WebAnimation/NaturalHabitatShorts:'' One short stars a platypus as a hotel bellhop during a routine hotel inspection, with the inspector bringing a Blacklight along. Much to the unfortunate platypus' chagrin, the nature fact of the short is that platypi glow under UV light, something even ''he'' wasn't aware of; both he and the inspector end up [[BodilyFluidBlacklightReveal horrified at the (mistaken) implications]] without finding out he just does that by nature.
-->'''Platypus:''' ...what? Is there something on my face? Why am I blue? Does everyone glow blue? ...what does blue mean. WHAT DOES BLUE MEAN!?

** One Aboriginal legend tells of how the platypus was born from the mating of a duck and a water-rat.

* The children's book ''Rocky the Confused platypus'' is about a platypus who has no idea what kind of animal he is, and so he goes and talks to all his friends to figure it out.

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': Downplayed. Most characters barely blink an eye at the titular characters' pet platypus Perry, with a dismissive "they don't do much" instead being a recurring description. However, he is sometimes confused for a duck, a beaver, or both by one-off characters. Also, the usual end credits song is all about how weird platypi are. In "Where's Perry (Part Two)", Ferb has this to say:

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': Downplayed. Most characters barely blink an eye at the titular characters' pet platypus Perry, with a dismissive "they don't do much" instead being a recurring description. However, he is sometimes confused for a duck, a beaver, or both by one-off characters. In "Where's Perry (Part Two)", Ferb has this to say:

* In ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'', once [[LotusEaterMachine the recreation of Blood Gulch]] sees the enormous face of the real world [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Caboose]] in the sky:

* Wiki/TVTropes: The picture used to illustrate the FusionDance trope (art by Pandaluna) posits that the platypus is the result of a ''[[Anime/DragonBallZ DBZ]]''-style fusion dance between a duck and a beaver.

* A ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' sketch shows god [[MixAndMatchCritter randomly cobbling together animal body parts to create the platypus]].

* When it is broken to Sol and Hush in ''Fanfic/{{Paragon}}'' that sabertooth tigers and ''T. rexes'' don't exist anymore, Hush is then convinced that platypuses are not real either, only for Pearl to contradict her.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/WildInsticnt'', a new platypus at the zoo is causing a stir. The other animals speculate: Is it a human? Is it a duck, a beaver or a cross between the two? That leads to an identity crisis. Finally, Miss Connoch the wildebeest solves the problem and tells everyone that the new animal is a platypus.