duckbill (redirected from duck-billed)

duckbill, fish

duckbill, fish: see paddlefish.

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duckbill, marsupial

duckbill, marsupial: see platypus.

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platypus

 or duckbill

Monotreme amphibious mammal (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) of lakes and streams in eastern Australia and Tasmania. About 23 in. (60 cm) long, the squat-bodied platypus has a ducklike snout, short legs, webbed feet, and a beaverlike tail. Each day it eats nearly its own weight in crustaceans, fishes, frogs, mollusks, tadpoles, and earthworms; lacking teeth, it crushes its food with ridges in the bill. The female lays one to three eggs in a nest in a long twisting passage above the waterline. The young are weaned about four months after hatching. The male's heel bears a spur connected to a poison-secreting gland. Large fishes and perhaps snakes prey on platypuses. Formerly trapped for their dense, soft fur, they are now protected by law.

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duckbill [′dək‚bil]

(mechanical engineering)

A shaking type of combination loader and conveyor whose loading end is generally shaped like a duck's bill.