Steropodon was a small mammal that lived alongside the dinosaurs in the mid-Cretaceous time period. It was a monotreme, an order of mammals that includes all egg-laying mammals, including the modern platypus and echidnas.
Facts[]
Steropodon was a prehistoric species of monotreme, or egg-laying mammal, that lived during the middle Albian stage, in the Lower Cretaceous period. It was once thought to look like a platypus though this is now known to be incorrect.
In Walking with... Series[]
Walking with Dinosaurs[]
Spirits of the Ice Forest[]
In the fifth episode of Walking with Dinosaurs, a Steropodon (live acted by a coati) is seen attempting to steal eggs from a Leaellynasaura; however the dinosaur drives it off by kicking dirt back at it.
Errors[]
- Steropodon was a monotreme; at the time the WWD series, it was thought to be similar to the modern platypus. Yet it was depicted by a live Coati, which looks nothing like a platypus, and presumably not at all like what one would expect Steropodon to look like. Further complicating this, in the 2002 adaptation of WWD titled Prehistoric Planet, Steropodon is even identified as a Coatimundi. However, recent studies on a relative, Teinolophos, show that it was a rather different animal from modern platypuses, lacking a beak and having teeth, so in retrospect WWD's depiction was justifiable (though one shouldn't expect Steropodon to look exactly like a Coatimundi either).