We don’t know of anyone who has recently tried to dine on a platypus. Second generation breeding by a pair of zoo-bred animals occurred for the first time at Healesville Sanctuary in 2008/09. Since then, successful breeding has also occurred at Taronga Zoo in Sydney. Platypus did not reproduce again in captivity until 1998/99, when two juvenile males were hatched at Healesville Sanctuary, with one surviving to maturity. The pair was observed mating for the first time in October 1943 and produced a daughter (named Corrie) who was successfully raised to adulthood. The breeding male (named Jack) was captured as a young juvenile in 1939 after being spotted swimming in a local creek. The breeding female (named Jill) was originally brought to the Sanctuary in 1938, after being rescued by two men who found her trudging along a road. Platypus were bred in captivity for the first time at Healesville Sanctuary in Victoria. Sensibly, there is no place in Australia where a platypus can be legally purchased or kept as a pet. Adult males in particular can be dangerous animals to handle – although the venom delivered by spurs on the hind ankles is not considered to be life-threatening, it can cause excruciating pain and swelling that lasts for days. Feeding and exercise tanks need to be as roomy as possible (after all, a platypus’s home range typically extends for a kilometre or more in the wild), and the water must be kept clean and fresh by appropriate use of automatic filters or being changed each day. These animals need a lot of food (equating to as much as one-fifth of their body mass each day in the case of males or females without young) and are also quite picky about their diet, preferring to dine on live aquatic invertebrates such as insect larvae, worms and crayfish. The platypus is a notoriously difficult animal to keep in captivity. Accordingly, there has never been a need to refer to these animals as a collective unit, though (should such a need arise in future) we personally would favour using the term “paddle”. In contrast to a pride of lions, a gaggle of geese or a herd of cattle, the platypus normally feeds on its own, though more than one animal may be active at the same time in a given spot. What is the collective term for a group of platypus? Our own preference is simply to use the term “nestling” to denote a platypus during the early stages of its development, as it’s the established term used in the scientific literature and the term used by everyone before 2003. When asked by reporters how to refer to the new arrivals, zoo staff suggested using the term “puggle” – a word previously used to denote a baby echidna. This situation changed in 2003 when a captive female platypus succeeded in raising twin daughters at Taronga Zoo in Sydney. Because juveniles are not normally seen by people at an earlier stage of development, there has historically never been any need to adopt a specific term for an infant platypus. When a juvenile platypus first emerges from its natal burrow (at the age of about 3-4 months), it is already fully furred, well-coordinated, and has grown to around 80% of its adult length. What is the correct term for a baby platypus? ![]() the Australian water-rat) was originally an aboriginal term for this animal, its plural in English is presumably “rakali” rather than “rakalis”. (For the sake of simplicity, we prefer using the second term.) By the same token, given that “rakali” (a.k.a. However, given that “platypodes” has for some unfathomable reason never become popular, the dictionary goes on to say that the accepted plural is “platypuses” or (particularly in scientific and conservation contexts) “platypus”. Given that the plural of the Greek “pous” is “podes”, we conclude that – strictly speaking – the plural of “platypus” should be “platypodes”. ![]() People feel that “platypi” doesn’t sound quite right, but what’s the alternative? According to our copy of the Australian Pocket Oxford Dictionary (Fourth Edition), the word “platypus” is derived from two Greek words meaning “flat broad foot”. ![]() This is perhaps the single most frequently asked question about the species. This section provides answers to commonly asked questions, and also highlights some of the many interesting and surprising facts about the platypus:
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