By JESSE GRAHAM
HEALESVILLE Sanctuary has marked its latest success in breeding platypuses, showing off their new four-month-old twin boys for the first time on Wednesday 9 March.
The Sanctuary introduced the two new platypus babies to visitors, media and twins Lulu and Gypsy Klein, and took them for one of their first public swims.
The two platypuses, which have yet to be named, recently emerged after about 130 days of living in an underground burrow with their mother, and are now living independently.
Their birth marks the 13th and 14th platypuses bred at the sanctuary, and the fifth time a set of twin platypuses had been bred there.
After meeting the platypuses with keepers Jessica Thomas and Sarah Thompson, and giving them a pat, Lulu and Gypsy said the new twins were “fluffy” and “soft”.
Ms Thomas said the babies were about 600 grams – roughly half of their adult weight – and that they were “inquisitive”, checking out their new living arrangements.
“They’re exploring their new environment, they get up and they eat and eat and eat and eat lots of worms, pretty much anything they can find,” she said.
“They’re also getting into everything they can find, so they’re wrecking things, ripping toys into little pieces and even going for a bit of a surf on a kickboard I’ve given them.”
She said that platypuses are “natural swimmers”, and are quick to adjust to water.
“When they first go for a swim, they sort of fall in the water for the first time, but then seem quite relieved that they can float,” she said.
“Within a couple of days, they’re diving right to the bottom.”
After June, if they are healthy, Ms Thomas said the platypuses would go to live at other Australian zoos.
Ms Thomas said the Sanctuary was accepting suggestions for the two platypuses’ names, and that the two winners would win a family pass to the sanctuary, and the chance to meet the animals up close.
The babies will be on display over the Labor Day long weekend, from 12-14 March, with keeper talks in the Platypus House at 10.30am and 2pm.
For more information, visit www.zoo.org.au
