Lead researcher Prof Frank Grutzer told the BBC's Greg Dunlop why the researchers had decided to look at the platypus and its insulin mechanisms: "We knew from genome analysis that there was something weird about the platypus's metabolic control system because they basically lack a functional stomach."

They are not the only animals to use insulin against enemies. The gila monster, a venomous lizard native to the US and Mexico, and the geographer cone, a dangerous sea snail which can kill entire schools of fish by releasing insulin into the sea, both also weaponise the chemical.

"That's obviously something that can be powerful in venom," Prof Grutzer said, though he stressed it was not what had led them to the discovery. "It was really coincidental," he said.

So the poisonous duck beavers are no longer needed. That's a shame, they're adorable