Adult males in particular are potentially dangerous animals to handle because of the venom delivered by their spurs. Sensibly, platypus cannot be legally kept as pets in Australia, nor are there currently any legal options for exporting them overseas.
They have decimated the species habitat, along with many other animals in Australia. These factors have prompted the country to list it as a protected species. The Australian government forbids keeping the platypus as a pet. It also makes it next to impossible to export, except to zoos and scientific institutions.
Currently, only dogs, cats, rabbits, horses and selected species of birds from approved countries may be imported as pets. No other vertebrate animals are approved for import into Australia as pets. Reptiles are not permitted to be imported as pets but may be imported under strict conditions for zoological purposes.
Join our Adopt a Platypus program and you will be supporting our work for the survival of platypus and their habitat. For a donation of $60 or more, you can symbolically 'Adopt a Platypus' for one year.
A platypus at the Healesville Sanctuary in Australia loves to cuddle more than anything, and sees nothing wrong with it ... Seriously though. All cuddles, all the time. She loves swimming around too, but ultimately prefers being snuggled up in someones arms, showing them a little love.
Effect on humans and other animals
Although powerful enough to paralyse smaller animals, the venom is not lethal to humans. Yet, it produces excruciating pain that may be intense enough to incapacitate a victim. Swelling rapidly develops around the entry wound and gradually spreads outward.
This platypus, renowned as one of the few mammals that lay eggs, also is one of only a few venomous mammals. The males can deliver a mega-sting that causes immediate, excruciating pain, like hundreds of hornet stings, leaving victims incapacitated for weeks.
Animal Medicines Australia
Dogs continue to be Australia's most popular pets, with just over 5 million dogs across the nation.
The dingo is the only native mammal that is not protected in NSW. It is also the only native mammal that you can have as a pet without needing a licence from the Department of Planning and Environment or any other state government authority.
The oldest male platypus ever found in the wild in Australia has been discovered in a Melbourne waterway. The 21-year-old was found during a survey of waterways in Belgrave last year with two young males, indicating reproductive success, Melbourne Water said on Wednesday.
In captivity, platypuses have survived to 17 years of age, and wild specimens have been recaptured when 11 years old. Mortality rates for adults in the wild appear to be low. Natural predators include snakes, water rats, goannas, hawks, owls, and eagles.
Native mammals like kangaroos, quolls and sugar gliders cannot be kept as pets in NSW. The best place for native animals is in the bush where they can live in their natural environment. Native mammals have special needs and do not thrive in confined domestic environments.
Generally, it is illegal to keep a native bird of prey, like an owl, as a pet. This is because they are protected under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974.
Under Australian environmental law, live native birds cannot be exported from Australia for primarily commercial purposes. To keep a kookaburra as a pet, the NSW Native Animal Keepers' Species List dictates a permit is required and they are not allowed to be kept as a companion pet.
Platypuses A platypus' bill is covered in nearly 40,000 electricity sensors – or electroreceptors – arranged in a series of stripes, which helps them localize prey. All animals produce electric fields due to the activity of their nerves and muscles.
If anyone is trading in quokkas as pets, they are doing so illegally. They cannot be taken from their native habitat (with some exceptions for wildlife organizations and conservationists). Quokkas should be allowed to live in the wild where they belong.
Average Lifetime Cost: $20,000
The high price of an Azawakh often stems from its bloodline. They make terrific show dogs and are also very rare. Azawakhs hail from Western Africa where they hunt gazelle, running as long and as fast as they can.
It should come as no surprise that the most popular pet in the world is the dog. There is a reason why people say the dogs are a man's best friend, and there are tens of millions of them living in the United States alone. Globally, approximately one-third of all households in the world have at least one dog.
Most people have no idea just how bizarre the half-aquatic species really is. One of only two monotreme animals in the world, this mammal lays eggs instead of giving birth to live young, and then sweats milk out from pores along its stomach to feed the babies.
Because being a duck-billed, egg-laying, venomous weirdo wasn't strange enough. Duck-billed, egg-laying platypuses just got a little weirder: It turns out their fur glows green and blue under ultraviolet (UV) light.