The platypus is arguably the crown jewel of unique Australian fauna. However, despite having visited quite a number of zoos, especially those which have special Australia exhibits, I have never seen one. I’ve seen koalas, kangaroos, a Tasmanian devil and even an echidna - why are American zoos unwilling or unable to make a suitable platypus habitat (or why is the Australian government, which would presumably have to approve the export of the animal, unwilling to let one try)?
I’m pretty sure that I saw platypus in our Columbus, Ohio zoo a few years back; not sure if they were on loan or a permanent exhibit. They had an aquatic environment where you could watch them swim as well as their land environment.
There used to be some in the Bronx Zoo, but it was a long time ago
Looks like they aren’t there any more
So it looks like there just aren’t any out there.
Apparently, the platypus is endangered, and also very difficult to breed in captivity.
Here’s a report on an Australian Senate committee hearing that includes the “platypus debate”…whether or not animals like platypus or koala should be exported to foreign zoos.
http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/rrat_ctte/wild/report/c18.htm
The platypus poses special problems for zookeepers. Complementing its nasty temper, the creature delivers an excruciating bite and it’s venom (from its hind-feet) is among the most debilitating known in the natural world. While these characteristics can and have been accommodated sucessfully in the past, the real problems lie in the dangers posed to the creature itself in a Northern Hemisphere aquatic environment.
The predatory technique of the platypus involves numerous of the little devils swimming counterclockwise around its prey (usually medium sized mammals: Koala, wallaby, etc) which have wandered into its pond. The subsequent vortex disorients the prey which, upon losing balance, topples into the pond and is quickly overcome and consumed with relish by the platypus pack.
Instinctively and physiologically, the platypus is incapable of swimming in a clockwise direction, as would be required to produce the whirlpool in the Northern Hemisphere, and is therefore unable to hunt effectively. As the platypus will only eat a fresh kill, it is very nearly impossible to keep them alive in captivity in the North.
That’s similar to the reason why there aren’t any of the dangerous drop bears in nothern hemisphere zoos. Instead of droping down, they would drop up, vanishing into space.
Bummer. But I see from the first link that there’s been a recently successful captive breeding. Maybe there’s hope yet.
Are they on the endangered list, then?
It’s impossible to create a clockwise whirlpool in the Northern Hemisphere? Am I being whooshed?
Alas, PoorYorick, you are being whooshed. It’s a famous urban legend regarding the Coriolis effect, although, until now, not specifically tied to platypus. It did serve as the jumping-off point for the Simpsons episode in which the family visits Australia.
Captain Amazing, thanks for that link. Fascinating stuff. (my previous response was written before I saw yours)
Of course Inigo Montoya is joking. Everyone knows that platypi eat their prey with mustard, not with relish!
Source: http://www.esl.com.au/plat.htm
While the above quote is self-serving, there are also serious political issues as well. It is my understanding when I lived in Oz, the government is pretty miffed that a retired mathematics professor is able to successfully raise in captivity a number of Australian species, while the government experts seem to regularly fail at it.
Mods: My apologies for bringing a political comment to the thread. However, it is as much a scientific angle as well as a political angle as to why we don’t see platypuses in American zoos.
I *figured * it was a play off the Coriolis Effect urban legend (toilets flushing and all that), but that’s what I get for reading without tongue in cheek. I am now officially sheepish (or platypusish, or whatever).
Now there’s a word you don’t see everyday! (Or ever before in my life.) But here’s another good one.
have you considered the possibility that there is a platypus in your local zoo, and you are looking for it in the wrong place? If you zoo had one, where would it be - with the mammals, the ducks, the reptiles, etc.? I would think a zoo would avoid such animals just because the zoo keepers wouldn’t know where to keep it, and the patrons would not know where to find it.
I vowed about two years go that I would use that word at some point in my life. I guess I succeeded 
You were caught flat-footed.
Had me going for a second there too! But when I mentally pictured a roving pack of platypuses (…playtpi? … platypussies? ) attacking a wombat, I realized it was a woosh.
They eat little things like crayfish, shrimp and incest larvae, BTW.
So that’s why they all have six legs.
I know it’s venom is supposed to be pretty nasty, but how can it hiurt you with that little duck bill. Are there teeth inside it?