Something was definitely up last November at the platypus pen. Koorina, a female, and 'N', a male, at Healesville Sanctuary near Melbourne, Australia, were spending quite a bit of time together. Then, on November 14, Koorina was seen gathering bunches of leaves from the surface of a small pond in the enclosure. She tucked them under her paddle-like tail and lugged them to a spot she had hollowed out under the roots of a tree. For five days she disappeared into her leaf-lined burrow.
The sanctuary's platypus experts, Norm Holland and Fisk (who uses only one name), could hardly contain their excitement. Could it be that Koorina was busy laying eggs? If so, she was only the second captive platypus ever to do so.
Platypus Preparations
Over the next few weeks, a video camera trained on the platypus habitat allowed Fisk and Holland to observe the shy, duck-billed mammal without disturbing her. They watched in awe as Koorina chowed down on huge quantities of worms, bugs and crayfish, apparently preparing to nurse her young. Soon she was eating 1 1/2 times her weight in food a day!
Then, by sometime in early December, Koorina made platypus history. Deep inside her burrow. Two leathery, grape-size eggs hatched. The tiny newborns each weighed less than a nickel. They had long lips that would later become a beak.
The world did not get a look at the babies until this month. On April 3, they left the safety of the nesting burrow. Fisk, who has spent 10 years trying to breed captive platypuses, said that moment was "the biggest and best thing in my life!"
The last time a platypus was born in captivity was during World War II. Corrie, born at Healesville in 1944, made front-page news around the world. Though later attempts to breed the egg-laying mammals failed, Fisk believed he would succeed this time. The animals, he said, were "comfortable with their enclosure; the weather conditions were perfect." Perhaps most important of all, platypus love had bloomed: "Basically, 'N' and Koorina like each other."
One of the babies will go on display at the sanctuary this week.
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