San Diego Zoo Safari Park Platypus at San Diego Zoo Safari Park

When did Omaha try to obtain Platypus, and why were they unable to be obtained?

 

Nobody has been able to obtain platypus outside of Australia (until San Diego did it apparently) since the 1940s when the Bronx Zoo did it.

Omaha wanted to get platypus for their nocturnal house opening, so it would have been in the early 2000s.

 

I didn’t know Omaha tried to get them. Now to come to think of it. Has any other zoo tried to obtain platypus? Also one does wonder how on Earth did San Diego manage to get platypus in the first place?

 

In his book The Zoological Gardens of Europe (1903) C. V. A. Peel records that Leipzig Zoo had a duck-billed platypus in 1899; the same book also lists a duck-billed platypus in Frankfurt.

I know that there is considerable doubt about these statements so I am only repeating what is mentioned in Peel's book; I am not vouching for their accuracy.

 

Because it's the San Diego Zoo! (edit - ok it's the Safari Park, not the zoo, but same organization).

 

Now confirmed in the latest issue of Zoo Grapevine & IZN.

 

Well, today is November 21. The event is supposed to start in a couple hours.

 

Is anyone from here planning on being there?

 

I just Googled around a bit, and searching for "san diego zoo platypus" yields this page - and nothing else helpful. It seems a bit odd to me that San Diego would open a platypus exhibit and not make that information more accessible to the public - though I guess we'll know in a few hours.

 

So its 1:30 in California, and by my understanding, that means the event is over.

 

Nothing to be seen so far news-wise... not from the zoo or via Google... Anybody going to be visiting the safari park soon?

 

San Diego Zoo Safari Park receives 2 platypuses from Australia

 

Here’s what it says:

‘San Diego Zoo Global was recently given two platypuses from the Taronga Zoo Sydney. These two animals are the first platypuses that are on display outside of Australia.

The two will live in a new habitat at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. The Walkabout Australia habitat will officially open on November 22 with a special ceremony.

The park received an 8-year-old male and a 15-year-old female. They were flown from Australia to San Diego in specially designed platypus transport crates, accompanied by their keeper from Taronga Zoo Sydney. The animals did very well on their long journey to San Diego and have been acclimating to their specially built new home at the Safari Park.

Platypuses are semi-aquatic mammals who live in freshwater habitats. They have a very unusual appearance with a duck-bill and beaver-like tail. They are one of two mammals who lay eggs rather than giving birth.’

 

I braved the cold and rain to be greeted by a closed barricade at the entrance to the exhibit and turned away at the Zuest Station where a private party was happening. I was told there is a chance it could be open tomorrow afternoon after the media event or Saturday morning. I will be on a plane then, so no photos from me. I hope someone gets some.