# Why no platypus in American Zoos? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 19, 2004, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-platypus-in-american-zoos/240848 "2004-04-19T17:02:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-platypus-in-american-zoos/240848/21 "2004-04-20T03:33:16Z")
> [@Earl Snake-Hips Tucker](#): > > So that’s why they all have six legs.😃 In **s** e **c** t… In **c** e **s** t… This is one of thse Santa is really Satan things isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Serpentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@Silver\_Serpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Serpentine)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-platypus-in-american-zoos/240848/22 "2004-04-20T05:31:57Z")
> [@](#): > > 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? Actually, they have little talons on their rear feet. Well, big, actually. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-platypus-in-american-zoos/240848/23 "2004-04-20T13:29:09Z")
All surviving monotremes are toothless, but no endentates are monotremes. ---
**Author:** ![woolly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ebca7d/32.png) [@woolly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woolly)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-platypus-in-american-zoos/240848/24 "2004-04-20T13:36:19Z")
> [@](#): > > 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. It’s also wildly apocryphal. Why the Australian government should be actively involved, let alone miffed at it’s “lack of success”, in the breeding platypus is rather beyond me. ESL’s Warrawong Sanctuary is an more substantial enclosure around an area where platypuses have bread for eons, it’s not breeding in capitivity. Taronga Zoo in Sydney lay claim to be only the second zoo after (Healsville) to successfully produce [puggles](http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/04/20/1050777161543.html) . They are also predominantly active at night, and when not deep in their burrows, forage underwater. Having seen them both in the wild and in captivity, it’s a buzz as they are frenetic creatures … but most of the time they’re well out of sight. They aren’t common, but there’s no suggestion that they are in any danger. And I guess this is probably my last post on SDMB. Been fun. See ya! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-platypus-in-american-zoos/240848/25 "2004-04-20T14:47:28Z")
Puggles at the Platypussary. Children’s book! ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-platypus-in-american-zoos/240848/26 "2004-04-20T14:52:26Z")
I once saw a rare piece of footage featuring platypi fucking. Really. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-platypus-in-american-zoos/240848/27 "2004-04-20T15:52:21Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > I once saw a rare piece of footage featuring… You dope! That was a _Neighborhood of Make Believe_ skecth from _Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood_! :eek: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-platypus-in-american-zoos/240848.md?page=1)