THE truth over the death of a duck-billed platypus sent to Winston Churchill as a wartime gift has finally been uncovered.
Researchers found the baby monotreme cooked to death on its long journey to Britain from Australia.
Its fate was covered up to avoid a public outcry and when it leaked a few years later was blamed on shock from German U-boat attacks on the ship on which it was carried.
The truth was uncovered by students who found the ship was never bombed — and the platypus succumbed to the 27C-plus heat as it crossed the equator.
Researcher Ewan Cowan said: “It’s way easier to just shift the blame on the Germans, rather than say we weren’t feeding it enough, or we weren’t regulating its temperature correctly.”
Australia , fearing the Japanese were moving ever closer, sent the platypus to curry favour with wartime PM Churchill in 1943.
It was plucked from a Melbourne river, nicknamed Winston and shipped off on a 45-day voyage, pampered with 50,000 worms, duck-egg custard and even its own full-time minder.
But after crossing the Panama Canal into the Atlantic, it was found dead in its purpose-built pen.
The mission was hushed up while Winston was stuffed and shelved in Churchill’s office.
But Australian students got to the truth by trawling archives in Canberra and London .
They found an interview with Winston’s minder, who insisted the crossing was peaceful.
