The Real Reason Phineas And Ferb Included A Platypus In The Show

Phineas and Ferb was an endlessly inventive series and thrived on its ability to come up with wacky new situations and adventures for its characters to engage in week to week. Created by Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, the animated Disney series focuses on the antics of Phineas Flynn and Ferb Fletcher as they find consistently zany and ambitious ways to spend every day of their summer vacation — much to the annoyance and frustration of their older sister, Candace. Phineas and Ferb doesn't just focus on the adventures of its titular characters, though, and that's part of what makes the series so successful.

Indeed, Phineas and Ferb is filled with a wide range of memorable, recurring characters, but none more beloved or delightful than Perry the Platypus. One of the series' best creations, Perry lives as both Phineas and Ferb's home pet and as a secret spy known as "Agent P." Nearly every episode of Phineas and Ferb features Perry in a prominent role and follows him on a mission to stop the mad scientist, Dr. Doofenshmirtz, from completing his nefarious plans.

There's no denying the value that Perry brings to every episode of Phineas and Ferb — his interactions with Dr. Doofenshmirtz are always fun — and his entire Agent P persona still feels inspired to this day. However, there is still a question as to why series creators Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh decided — out of all the animals on the planet — to make Perry a platypus.

The good news? Povenmire and Marsh actually had two pretty logical reasons for the decision. In an interview with Variety, Marsh revealed that he and Povenmire chose to make Perry a platypus because they felt like the animal was so obscure that viewers wouldn't be watching the series and comparing its take on a platypus to more well-known versions in other popular media. "We feel like we can own this animal. Few kids have a specific image in their mind of what a platypus is before seeing Phineas and Ferb," said Marsh.

There was another reason that the Phineas and Ferb creators landed on a platypus as well. Marsh revealed that they chose a platypus in the hopes that it would make parents' lives a little easier. "We wanted to pick an animal that kids couldn't go pick out at a pet store and beg for," he noted. In other words, it looks like making Perry a platypus in Phineas and Ferb was not only a creative choice on the part of the show's creators but also one they made with some legitimate, practical considerations in mind.