"Ever since it was discovered by bemused European explorers in Australia 200 years ago, the mammal has fascinated schoolchildren and baffled scientists."

Interesting...

You know - in only 'baffles' people because we have a NEED to put animals into categories (species, phylum, etc.) ... Nature has no such regard: if evolution favors an egg laying mammal with a beak, so be it.

It's only the rigidity of our classification of the animal kingdom that gives rise to such issues: and when you think about it in those terms, the "weirdness" disappears.