The lede is buried, tl;dr: During WWII, a platypus named Winston Churchill was shipped from Australia to the UK (on behalf of its namesake). On the last leg of the journey, after the panama canal, the platypus nursery got too hot (above 27 degrees Celsius) and the platypus died.
But does the water reach 27°C during Australian summers, or just the air? Water will remain cooler than air for a long time, as anyone who's jumped into a swimming pool in summer knows. It was the sustained water temperature of 27°C that was the deadly issue for Winston the platypus.
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But in the end the cause of death didn't bring me any comfort
Winston Churchill was the British Prime Minister at the time.
The two should not be confused.
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-note to self, do a google image search when I'm no longer at work for "platypusary".