A Curious Hoax?
Natural Curiosities
When the platypus was discovered in colonial Australia, its bizarrely composite anatomy seemed a gross hoax. It took generations of research to classify it, given that even its reproductive system combines elements of mammals, birds and marsupials. Unlike most amphibians, the midwife-toad has its eggs worn on the male's legs, and they copulate on land, not in water, for which purpose male toads have 'adhesive' paw pads. A brilliant zoologist discovered that breeding them in different conditions can trigger a reversal to the other method and anatomy, a Lamareck-like amendment on Darwinism, which was abused for political purposes. He committed suicide after probably false accusations of fabricating evidence, as the results, although never reproduced in labs, were later found in the wild.