Q. Does one make the brocho of "meshane habrios" with the full name of Hashem when seeing first time a platypus?
A. Shulchan Aruch (O.H. 225: 8) rules that one recites the brocho of "meshane habrios" when seeing an unusual creature, such as a monkey or elephant for the first time. The Talmud (Brochos 58b) mentions also the "kifof" which according to Rashi (ibid.) is a humanlike bird. Meiri (ibid.) and Birchas Habbais (29: 12) maintain that the brocho is only recited on these animals since they have a human appearance and the elephant possesses extraordinary memory and intelligence. However Poiskim write that truly unusual or abnormal creatures qualify too (Mekor Chaim, see also Piskey Teshuvos (225: 21, Halacha Berura 225; Yalkut Yosef 3 p. 608)
The unusual appearance of the egg-laying, duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed semi-aquatic mammal known as platypus, definitely would have it qualify as a prime candidate for this brocho, with the full name of Hashem. Indeed that is the opinion of Horav Avrohom Tzvi Beck Shlit"a of Addas Yisroel, Melbourne and Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit"a agrees. (Platypuses are not normally found in zoos outside of Australia)
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit"a
Important Numbers
