Does the platypus have a stomach? The perils of popular science

ABSTRACT

If you search the internet for platypus stomach you will find countless websites stating that the platypus has no stomach. Some also state that echidnas also have no stomach. But platypuses and echidnas do have stomachs, although they differ from the stomachs of all other mammals by being non-secretory. In this paper I review the history of anatomical descriptions of monotreme stomachs, discuss the functions of the stomach in vertebrates, and show how the absence of acid secretion has been confused with absence of a stomach. The misunderstanding and misrepresentation of platypus anatomy and physiology provides an interesting example of how science misinformation can be propagated.