100 
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 
marched, the platypus briskly swam and 
emerged, scrambled, and climbed up the wire 
netting walls of its main salon in efforts to 
get out. Head-keeper John Toomey stage- 
managed the display, and handled the little 
creature whenever its erring ways needed to 
be checked. 
From the beginning of captivity the food 
supply of a platypus is a serious responsibility. 
In Australia, angleworms are the mainstay. 
The two features of a living platypus that 
make the daily life of its keeper a nightmare 
and a burden are its food habits and its water 
habits. In this vale of tears there seem to be 
just about five kinds of food that it will con¬ 
sider and consume. Named in the order of 
their acceptability these are: angleworms, very 
small shrimps, wood grubs (of the kind most 
difficult to find!), oysters and water insects. 
Of any one of the three leading kinds the 
animal soon tires, and requires a change. The 
cost of digging angleworms, even if it is pos¬ 
sible to preserve them, is quite serious; and 
wood grubs cost us ten cents each, with few 
purveyors. 
While it lived our little platypus,—about half 
grown,—cost us between $4 and $5 per day to 
feed. Even in summer the food problem kept 
us moving, but we looked forward with appre¬ 
hension to the horrors of winter. 
One trouble lies in the voracious appetite of 
a healthy platypus. Mr. Joseph solemnly de¬ 
clared that often one will consume half its 
own weight of food in a day. One day’s ration 
of our specimen was as follows: 
August 6; 1/2 lb. earthworms, 40 shrimps 
and 40 grubs. 
One week’s food supply for the platypus 
consisted of the following: 
Each day, between three and four o’clock, 
the animal was given one-quarter of a pound 
of earth worms. 
On Tuesday nights and Friday nights one- 
quarter of a pound of shrimps and one-half 
pound of grubs were given. 
On the evenings of Monday, Wednesday, 
Thursday, Saturday and Sunday he received 
one-half pound of., shrimps each day. 
Concerning the food of the platypus in cap¬ 
tivity, Mr. Joseph has kindly furnished the 
following statement: 
“In the feeding habits of the platypus, I 
find that its taste varies. I have withheld food 
from them and then tried to feed them on 
oysters, and I found that two out of three 
would not eat them, while the third one ate 
PLATYPUS POSES 
Never still, always moving. 
