January 24, 2005
The pride of Sydney's Taronga Zoo, platypus twin girls named Samantha and Binari, find themselves in the same situation of which many Sydney women complain: Try as they might, neither twin can find a good male with which to settle down and have babies.
The puggles, as baby platypuses are called, were born amid much excitement in October 2002. It was only the second time the duck-billed, web-foot mammal had been successfully bred in captivity.
For 20 years attempts at breeding platypuses in captivity had gone astray, for reasons that may sound familiar: The conditions weren't right; the participants didn't get on; or one platypus just wasn't in the mood.
But now the zoo is entering the world of platypus matchmaking as it prepares to try to breed a second-generation platypus in captivity.
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