2007-04-09 23:31:55 · 8 answers · asked by Mahesh M 1 in Pets ➔ Other - Pets
No, the platypus is only found in Australia. They have an extremely specialist diet. They don't breed well in captivity. In fact there have only been a few bred in captivity in the past 50 years, and some of them didn't survive to adulthood. The breeding program at Healesville Sanctuary http://www.zoo.org.au/healesville/ and the Taronga Zoo http://www.zoo.nsw.gov.au/ are the ONLY breeding program in Australia. These animals rarely even come into wildlife shelters as rescues because they are extremely rare and timid. The males do have venomous ankle spurs on their back legs, and I have heard that getting spiked is excrutiatingly painful. There is absolutely nothing about this animal that would make it suitable as a pet.
Platypus are NOT marsupials. They belong to a very small class of animals known as monotremes. Along with the Long Beaked, and the Short Beaked Echidna, they are the only egg laying mammals in the world.
2007-04-09 23:52:55 · answer #1 · answered by PJJ 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The Platypus is an Australian Native which is an aquatic, burrowing, egg-laying mammal.
It has a duck's bill which can emits electrical impulses, poor eyesight, has 4 feet, water proof fur like a beaver, lays eggs like a bird, gives milk to its young like a dog or cat, and the males have venomous spurs on their hind legs. A very odd animal.
They are found only in a few slow moving streams and creeks in Victoria and New South Wales. It is notoriously hard to keep/breed these in captivity.
To keep them they require a flowing water supply, live food (mostly maggots and fresh water shrimp - which they detect with the electrical impulses emitted from their bills), wet firm soil to burrow in, and they are nocturnal - they move around in the dark.
There is only one place in the world that has been able to breed them in captivity - Healsville Sanctuary in Victoria.
For further info on the Sanctuary go to www.visitvictoria.com.displayObject.cmf
So as a pet - not a good idea.
2007-04-10 00:03:22 · answer #2 · answered by Barb Outhere 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, a platypus would not make a good pet. They are wild animals, they are venomous, and I'm pretty sure they are illiegal to capture/keep as pets.
2007-04-09 23:35:56 · answer #3 · answered by ami_707 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No Platypus are native to Australia only and you cant keep them as pets. They have poison spikes on them.
2007-04-09 23:34:40 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
platypus are in zoo parks in Mumbai
2007-04-09 23:41:57 · answer #5 · answered by balkrishna c 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
platypus live in rivers on the east coast of australia, they are a marsupial. a platypus will probably gouge your eyes out.
2007-04-09 23:35:44 · answer #6 · answered by ragnars claw 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
no, platypus has venom. . . .
2007-04-09 23:41:37 · answer #7 · answered by wicked1 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no they can not b kept as pets as all
2007-04-09 23:41:17 · answer #8 · answered by melbuz76 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋