Assuming yоu аre creаting аn оutline оf the paragraph below, identify the main idea—the sentence that would begin your outline. The main idea may appear anywhere in the paragraph. In the space provided, write only the number of the sentence that states the main idea. 1In 1798, a few naturalists were skeptically probing a specimen delivered to the British Museum in London, looking for signs that a prankster had slyly stitched the bill of an oversized duck onto the pelt of a small furry mammal. 2They didn’t know it, but they were examining the remains of a platypus, a web-footed mammal about half the size of a house cat. 3Like the other mammals, the duck-billed platypus has mammary glands and hair. 4However, like birds and reptiles, it has a cloaca, an enlarged duct through which reproductive cells, feces, and excretions from the kidneys pass. 5The platypus also lays shelled eggs, as do birds and most reptiles; however, the young hatch before their embryonic development is complete. 6And although the creature’s fleshy bill does appear ducklike, its broad, flat, furry tail looks like the one on a beaver. 8With its unusual traits, the platypus invites us to challenge preconceived notions of what constitutes “an animal.”