Thanks EnolaGaia.
Do you think "Beaver Ducks" then were ALWAYS non-cryptozoological or are there any authentic cases of N.American platypus-cryptids?
The notion of "platypus = beaver + duck" is pretty straightforward, given that it looks like a duck in the front and like a beaver in the rear ...
Still, I'm not aware that 'beaver duck' has ever been a colloquial term for a platypus. I've failed to turn up any allusions to 'beaver duck' that:
- aren't modern,
- indicate widespread familiarity with or usage of the phrase,
- aren't somehow associated with the Oregon / Oregon State rivalry, and / or ...
- aren't references to the Portland baseball team.
As to the crypto connection ...
The platypus was originally something of a cryptid, in the sense European zoologists examining the first pelts or specimens from Australia assumed they were manufactured hoaxes.
I don't think I've ever encountered any claims of a cryptid platypus or a cryptid described as platypus-like.
Having said that ...
There
are larger versions of today's platypus in the Australian fossil record, and there's at least one extinct platypus-like creature known from South America (
Monotrematum sudamericanum).
This leaves the door open for the notion of a relict platypus ancestor / relative as a cryptid.