EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -monotreme, (order Monotremata), any member of the egg-laying mammalian order Monotremata, which includes the amphibious platypus (family Ornithorhynchidae) and the terrestrial echidnas (family Tachyglossidae) of continental Australia, the Australian island state of Tasmania, and the island of New Guinea.

Detailed explanation-2: -Monotremes (Prototheria) are mammals that lay eggs (Platypus is an example) instead of giving birth to live young like marsupials and other placental mammals.

Detailed explanation-3: -Echidnas are also known as spiny anteaters. In contrast to the viviparous marsupials and placentals, monotremes are oviparous, a word that means they “give birth to eggs”. Unlike the hard-shelled eggs of birds, monotreme eggs have a leathery exterior, like those of most reptiles.

Detailed explanation-4: -The monotremes are a group of highly specialised egg-laying predatory mammals, containing the platypus and echidnas.

Detailed explanation-5: -Most mammals are viviparous (give birth to live young), but the monotremes are oviparous, and most, if not all, non-mammalian synapsids were probably oviparous.