An international scientific team announced Wednesday they had finally decoded the genetic blueprint of the platypus, one of the strangest creatures on Earth.

Decoding the platypus genome has long been an important goal for scientists who wanted to thoroughly understand the origins of mammal evolution. The study, conducted by nearly 100 scientists, was published in the journal Nature.

"The platypus genome is extremely important, because it is the missing link in our understanding of how we and other mammals first evolved," explained Oxford University's Chris Ponting, one of the scientists involved in the study, according to Agence France-Presse.

The study’s results revealed that the odd creature was indeed the earliest offshoot of the mammalian family tree, noted project co-leader Jennifer Graves, of the Australian National University in Canberra.

"The platypus genome, like the animal itself, is an amazing amalgam of reptile-like and mammal-like features," Graves said.

The egg-laying animal, has of mixture of genes, being part animal, part bird and part lactating mammal. Its genome contains about 18,500 genes, out of which 82 percent are shared with the human, mouse, dog, opossum and chicken.

The creature is so odd that when the first stuffed specimens arrived in Europe at the end of the 18th century, biologists did not believe it was real, thinking it was some hoax of a taxidermist.

But now, the mixture of the platypus’ various features is revealed in its DNA, the study informs.

The platypus is considered a mammal because its body is covered in fur and it also produces milk, which the female feeds to pups through the skin covering its abdomen, as it lacks teats. The platypus’ reptile attributes are eggs laying and the venom used by the male platypus to attack its aggressors.