The echidna animal rarely reaches a size of more than 45-50 cm. Scientists have not been able to fully understand the origin of this animal. The Australian echidna lives in the west and eastern regions of the continent. There is a subspecies of this animal that lives on the island of Tasmania. The animal’s favorite habitat is dry bush (thickets of various shrubs) on rocky or loose soils.
The echidna animal rarely reaches a size of more than 45-50 cm
The animal belongs to the group of mammals that lay eggs. The echidna is a marsupial, like many representatives of the Australian fauna. She is featured on many stamps issued by Australia, as well as on the Australian 5 cent coin.
This small animal in nature has only one related species, which is called the echidna. This animal is larger than the echidna, both in weight and size. This species lives on the islands of New Guinea.
The echidna is a marsupial, like many representatives of the Australian fauna Appearance
The Australian echidna has a small body, which is covered on the sides and top with spines up to 5-6 cm long. These protective devices are colored brown or white. Between the needles the animal grows coarse brown fur. The animal is land-dwelling, but can swim. At the same time, the Australian echidna can overcome a wide body of water.
Echidnas look funny because of their slightly bulging eyes and thin muzzle, which is about 7.5 cm long. It has an almost circular cross-section.
At the very end of this long “nose” there is a narrow, small mouth (it opens 4-5 mm), inside of which there is a long flexible tongue. It is very sticky and allows the animal to hunt various worms and insects.
The length of the tongue reaches 22-25 cm, and the echidna can throw it out of its mouth 180 mm. The animal is capable of moving its tongue at high speed - 90-100 movements per minute.
How an echidna lives (video)
The echidna has a lot of thick and long fur around its ears. The ears themselves are practically invisible. The animal's tail is small. It looks like a small protrusion at the back and is covered in needles.
The weight of the animal can be from 2 to 5 kg, and the Tasmanian species is larger than its Australian counterpart.
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If there is no way to hide, then the Australian echidna curls up into a ball, like an ordinary hedgehog. The animal has excellent hearing, which compensates for its poor eyesight. The Australian echidna can detect weak electric fields generated by the movements of insects and worms. Only the platypus and echidna have such an electric locator. Since a mammal of this species is a monotreme animal, all waste from the body exits the animal through the cloaca.
Animal lifestyle
This animal practically does not dig holes. During the day, an unusual representative of the Australian fauna likes to hide in the hollows of various trees or sleep under their roots in the voids. At night the animal goes hunting. This animal feeds on the following invertebrates:
- It readily eats termites, tearing apart termite mounds with its claws.
- The animal's diet includes different types of ants.
- If there are no insects mentioned above, then he can eat earthworms.
When the animal senses prey, it throws out a long, very sticky tongue from its narrow muzzle. The victim sticks to it and is then dragged into the echidna's mouth. Each animal has its own hunting territory.
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The animal has a large layer of subcutaneous fat, which helps the echidna endure the cold season. During such periods, the animal hibernates. Echidnas are capable of dreaming, but when the ambient temperature drops below 20°C or rises to values greater than 25°C, the sleep phase decreases or disappears completely.
Since the animal, when curled up into a ball in danger, cannot completely close itself with its spines, predators such as foxes and various types of wild dogs have learned to use this disadvantage of the echidna during hunting. This greatly reduced the number of Australian mammals. The echidna cannot escape from such an enemy, so it relies only on its needles.
Reproduction in nature
The echidna, like the platypus, is a rare species of oviparous mammal. The mating season begins in winter, before which the animals live almost alone. Echidna reproduction occurs with the help of eggs. The males begin the courtship dance by circling around the female and throwing out the ground with their claws. Therefore, a trench is formed around the female echidna, the depth of which can reach 20-25 cm. The males begin to push each other out of the resulting hole. The female goes to the one who remains inside.
21-30 days after copulation, the female lays a soft-shelled egg, which she carefully places in the abdominal pouch. The dimensions of this egg are comparable to the dimensions of a pea. Scientists have not yet been able to figure out how the female attaches it to her pouch.
She incubates the egg for about 10 days. After the baby appears, the mother feeds it milk. It is released from special pores that are located in the milk field. This species of animals does not have nipples. A baby echidna licks the food mixture. He lives in his mother's pouch for 1.5-2 months. After this, its needles begin to form and grow, so it leaves the pouch. The mother digs a mink for her offspring, where he lives until the age of 7 months. Every 5 days, the female returns to the calf to feed him milk. After this, the young animal leaves the hole and begins to lead an independent lifestyle.
The Australian echidna is a representative of the monotreme order. This order also includes a very popular animal in Australia - the platypus. The habitat of the Australian echidna lies in the western and eastern parts of the Australian mainland, as well as in New Guinea and Tasmania. Scientists divide echidnas into two genera. Within the genus there are three species. The first genus is called proechidna.
The second genus is divided into 2 types of echidnas - the Tasmanian echidna and the Australian echidna. The genus is called “true echidnas.” Species within the genus are distinguished depending on the habitat of these animals.
In appearance, the echidna vaguely resembles a porcupine. The echidna's body is covered with short, stiff hair, and there are also long spines of approximately 5 cm along the entire surface of the back.
The animal is a loner; the echidna does everything from a nesting site to searching for “hunting grounds” on its own. The main food for the animal is ants, termites and small invertebrates. The echidna catches prey with its tongue, which has a sticky surface. The prey is glued to the tongue and swallowed.
However, with the onset of the mating season, the animal’s lifestyle undergoes dramatic changes, which takes place in winter. Animals rarely breed, about once every two or even three years. After fertilization, female echidnas lay eggs. More often - only one egg. It is noteworthy that echidnas do not hatch eggs in the traditional sense. They place the egg inside their pouch and carry it until the baby hatches.
Usually the offspring are born within 10 days. Echidnas feed their young with milk. However, this process is also very specific for them - they feed not with nipples, but through pores on the body, called the “milk field”.
From one and a half to two months the cub remains in the mother's pouch. After this, needles begin to appear on the baby’s body and the mother is forced to “evict” him from the bag. A caring mother “builds” a hole in the ground for her offspring, where they stay permanently. While the cubs are in a safe place, the mother goes hunting to get food for herself and her babies.
Male individuals live as hermits, occupying territory under their control only, which they carefully guard and consider to be their “hunting grounds.” Echidnas are also excellent swimmers.
The main “competitive advantage” of the animal is its excellent vision; they notice even the smallest movements nearby with amazing speed. It must be said that this is not an aggressive animal and, sensing something is wrong, the animal prefers to hide rather than enter into confrontation.
The echidna has a curious defense mechanism - it curls up into a ball and bristles with spines, resembling a hedgehog in appearance. However, this tangle can be “unwound.” The main enemies of the echidna are dingoes, foxes and monitor lizards. This, combined with the anthropogenic factor, has brought these creatures to the brink of extinction. In Australia, this species is listed as endangered.
The Australian echidna is one of the many species of egg-laying animals belonging to the mammalian family. It lives in the wild not only in Australia, but also in Tasmania and New Guinea.
Due to its ability to adapt to different climates, the animal can live in captivity in almost every corner of the world.
The echidna animal differs from other animals in its specificity.
- The appearance of the Australian echidna is very similar to the hedgehog, and also shares similar features with the porcupine. Almost the entire surface of the echidna’s body is covered with sharp spines.
- Unlike most animals, the echidna's offspring are born from laid eggs. This phenomenon mainly occurs in birds, but also in some mammals.
- Unlike birds, which hatch their eggs in nests, the Australian echidna carries them in a pouch located in the abdominal cavity, like a kangaroo.
- The animal feeds in the same way as an anteater.
- The hatched offspring feed on mother's milk, as in most mammals.
- According to scientists, we can conclude that the echidna’s nose is equipped with unique cells responsible for capturing electromagnetic pulses. It is due to these signals that the animal can track all living creatures around it.
Very often you can find a comparison between the echidna and a bird; it is even often called the “bird beast”.
Appearance
On average, the body length of an echidna is about 40 centimeters. The entire surface of the back is covered with sharp needles mixed with fur. The echidna's neck is not visible, so it seems that its small head abruptly turns into a body. The mouth of this cute animal is tube-shaped, inside of which there is a long sticky tongue. In order to navigate the terrain, the echidna uses its beak. This is the only source of knowledge of the world, since The animal's vision is not the best.
The echidna's legs are very muscular, although short. The paws, like many mammals, have five toes. The echidna's claws are long, especially on its hind paw. The longest claw reaches five centimeters. They need it to comb their quills. In addition to the back, the animal has a small tail also covered with spines. The animal itself is squat, deftly digging the ground.
Lifestyle
By nature, the echidna prefers to live alone. The animal very carefully protects its territory and will fight with all its might against unwanted guests. But animals do not acquire permanent housing, preferring instead to move freely around the world. From the appearance of the animal you cannot say that it can swim across even a small body of water, but this is not so. Echidna swims beautifully.
Animals are doing well developed instinct of self-preservation. They are able to instantly react to danger and take appropriate measures to protect themselves from the enemy. The most common place for shelter during times of danger is thickets and rock cracks.
If the echidna comes face to face with its enemy, it begins to very quickly curl up into a ball, exposing its needles as a defensive weapon. This method is very helpful in saving the life of an echidna. But the animal uses this method of self-defense when the ground is too hard, and the echidna does not have the opportunity to dig a hole for itself to hide in.
Nutrition
The mainstay of this animal's diet is termites, molluscs and ants. To obtain food, the animal can easily destroy an anthill or peel off the bark of a tree. Due to its muscular paws, the Australian hedgehog can easily move away a large stone and feast on the insects and worms underneath. At the time of feeding, small pebbles and earth enter the digestive tract along with food, which have a beneficial effect on the process of digesting food.
Echidna has a very long and strong tongue, which she throws over long distances. Due to the sticky surface of the tongue, prey sticks to it, which the animal subsequently crushes in its mouth.
The hunting process mainly takes place at night. During the day, food production is carried out only in cool weather. This is because the animal completely lacks glands responsible for sweat secretion. And the body temperature does not exceed 32 degrees. That is why the Australian animal is very does not tolerate heat well, but neither does cold.
If the temperature is too low, the echidna becomes lethargic and all processes responsible for vital activity are dulled.
It is worth noting that the animal, under unfavorable weather conditions, can go into hibernation, which lasts up to 4 months. At this time, the body receives nutrients from the fat accumulated during the season.
It is worth noting that echidnas consume very little water. The supply of necessary fluid for the normal functioning of the body comes with the eaten insects.
Reproduction
Until 2003, the reproduction process of these animals was a mystery to all humanity. Based on research results, it was found that the fertilization period for these animals begins in early spring and ends in early September.
During the mating season, echidnas can coexist together and live in a small group not exceeding 6 individuals. At the head of this group is always a female, who is the only one of her kind in this small “community”.
Courtship of the female by males continues for one month. If the female lies on her back, she shows that she is ready for fertilization.
At this moment, the males begin vigorous activity. They begin to trample a trench 30 centimeters deep around the female. The trench itself is a kind of “battlefield” on which males try to push each other beyond its boundaries. Ultimately, the winner mates with the female. The gestation period lasts up to 4 weeks. Moreover, the gestational age depends on the air temperature. The colder it is, the longer the pregnancy.
Who would have thought, but during pregnancy this mammal forms a special pouch in which females lay leather eggs. The baby, when born, usually after 10 weeks, moves to the front of the mother's pouch, where it feeds on milk. He stays there for 2 months, after which the female releases him into the open spaces of the outside world.
But her concern doesn’t end there. She digs a small hole, which is located in a secluded place, and every five days she comes to visit him. The duration of such visits lasts up to 6 months.
It is after this period, from a small cub, that an adult is formed, capable of independently obtaining food for itself and living separately from its mother.
Reproduction facts
- a female can have offspring from the age of 3;
- reproduction occurs extremely rarely, usually no more than once every five years;
- for one fertilization, a female can have only one child;
- bag for bearing offspring, appears only during pregnancy.
Due to its adaptation to climatic conditions, everyone can admire this marvelous animal in the zoo.
Mammal, bird or reptile? If you mix their signs and shake them well, you get the symbol of Australia. It seems that such an amazing creature cannot survive in real conditions. But the echidna does it perfectly!
Eggs: almost like a bird
The echidna is covered with fur, which means it is a mammal. And all mammals are viviparous - at least, scientists were sure of this until 1884, when the Scottish naturalist William Caldwell personally took the egg out of her pouch! To do this, he spent many weeks on the banks of the Burnett River, forcing the aborigines to catch strange animals.
Most likely, fellow scientists would not have believed Caldwell, thinking that he had overheated in the hot Australian sun. But at the same time as the Scot, evidence that echidnas are absolutely incredible animals was discovered by the curator of the South Australian Museum, William Haake. While examining the corpse of an echidna, he found an egg inside it. And these were not the remains of a eaten bird or lizard, but an unborn baby viper.
Echidna eggs are more like reptile eggs
Bag: almost like a kangaroo
The mammal echidna not only lays eggs, like a bird or reptile, but also carries its young in a pouch - just like a kangaroo. The pouch appears before the egg is laid, and when the baby grows up, it smooths out and disappears. While the rest of the Australian warm-blooded animals were choosing which was more profitable - an egg or a bag, the echidna took both.
The cub lives in the pouch for a month and a half, until its needles begin to prick. Then the mother digs a hole or builds a nest, transplants the baby there, feeds it one last time and goes about her business. He returns after five days, feeds him and leaves again for almost a week. A real mother echidna. After six months, she completely stops visiting the cub, and the young animal goes out into an independent life.
Relative to their body size, echidnas have an incredibly developed “smart” part of the brain, the neocortex.
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Evolution Special way Echidnas and platypuses are the only living representatives of the order Monotremes, or oviparous species. This is a specific Australian side branch of evolution. The division into two groups occurred only 25 million years ago. And although the echidna’s ancestors came to land, this animal still swims and dives perfectly, just like the platypus that remained in the water. And just like him, the echidna’s “beak” has electroreceptors for underwater hunting: they detect the slightest electrical fields that are created when the muscles of the prey contract. Monotremes are primitive beasts with many reptilian features. Their intestines and bladder open into a special cavity - the cloaca, like a lizard or crocodile. Monotremes also digest food in the intestines - the stomach serves exclusively for its temporary storage. Oviparous animals do not have vocal cords, and their teeth are destroyed in early childhood. |
Australian echidnas live not only in Australia, but also in the south of New Guinea
Milk: almost like a cat
The female echidna produces milk, but does not allow the baby to suck it. The animal simply does not have nipples: milk is secreted directly through the skin of the two milk zones in the pouch, and the baby licks it from the fur. The echidna tries to prevent the baby from starving, and during the lactation period it intensively searches for food - it makes forays after it. And although the baby increases his weight 60 times in 60 days, he often cannot cope with his mother’s lunches, and excess milk pours directly into the bag.
Echidna milk is very nutritious, and any bacteria would happily multiply in it. Pathogenic microbes are deadly for small echidnas, which are born with an underdeveloped immune system. To prevent trouble, the mother echidna’s body has learned to produce special antimicrobial proteins. Experiments by Australian scientists show that they suppress the growth of even such tenacious bacteria as Staphylococcus aureus. The milk of other mammals also contains protective proteins, but echidnas have a larger set of them and they are much more “vigorous.”
Echidnas have serious enemies - dogs and cars
Strength: almost like a bear
The little echidna is an incredibly strong animal for its size. Her funny paws break anthills like shortbread. And thanks to its thick claws, the animal easily destroys termite mounds in order to feast on tasty insects.
And with the help of its powerful front paws, the echidna excellently digs shelters. If you put a man with a shovel next to him, the Australian miracle beast will easily outrun him. The hole is the echidna’s favorite way to hide from enemies: dingoes, cats and foxes. The animal burrows into the ground and curls up so that only sharp spines remain sticking out. It is almost impossible to get an echidna from such a “dugout.”
Longevity: almost human-like
There is a general rule in nature: the smaller the animal, the shorter its life path. But although the largest echidnas weigh a maximum of 6 kg, in captivity these creatures live up to half a century. Scientists suggest that the secret to the incredible longevity of echidnas is their slow metabolism, which the animals inherited from their direct reptilian ancestors.
The body temperature of echidnas does not rise above 32 °C, this is an absolute record among all mammals. But animals also tolerate 28 °C without any problems - unlike people who, when their body temperature changes by a couple of degrees, can only lie in bed and moan. In the cold months, echidnas even “cool down” to 4 °C and take a breath once every three minutes. It will not be possible to run and look for food in this state, so echidnas hibernate.
World's largest fleas found in echidna fur
Sex: like no other
The echidna is a self-sufficient loner and only meets with another echidna to make a new echidna. But even here, Australian animals chose a special path. The male's penis is seven centimeters. Twice as much as a gorilla! It is covered with spines to stimulate the release of the egg and has four heads. True, when mating, the male uses only two, and presses the remaining ones, because the female’s vagina is “only” double.
In anticipation of copulation, males line up and follow the female in a crowd, and she chooses someone to her taste. Then someone else, then another. Males do not give up trying to mate, even if the chosen one has fallen into hibernation: often the echidna wakes up already pregnant. To tame competitors, males have special spurs on their hind legs. For the sake of sex, cold echidnas “heat up” by several degrees during the mating season - this “trick” is left over from reptiles. Scientists have even hypothesized that warm-bloodedness is the love fever of our reptilian ancestors, which has remained with us forever.
Echidna spines are modified hair
The echidna is an unusual animal even for Australia. A huge number of other living beings choose some niche for themselves and adapt specifically to it. Echidna took a different route: she decided to take everything at once, that is, adapt to any conditions. And she succeeded: this is the only native Australian animal that managed to occupy the entire continent. Sometimes a lack of modesty turns out to be a virtue.
Photo: ALAMY /LEGION-MEDIA(X4), MINDEN PICTURES / FOTODOM.RU, ISTOCK, IUCN (INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR CONSERVATION OF NATURE). 2017. THE IUCN RED LIST OF THREATENED SPECIES. VERSION 3.1, DIOMEDIA, VMENKOV (CCBY-SA 3.0)
AUSTRALIAN ECHIDNA(Tachyglossus aculeatus) is one of the most interesting and mysterious animals on the planet. Until now, scientists have not determined how these strange animals appeared or who their ancestors were. The described species has a fairly large number of relatives, but most of them have long since died out, and now only one of them is alive - the echidna.
This small animal is distributed throughout almost the entire territory of Australia, the southern and eastern parts of New Guinea and the island of Tasmania. It was first described by zoologist Georg Shaw in 1792, who mistakenly attributed Australian echidna to the anteater family. Later, a cloaca was discovered in the animal, which made it possible to classify it as a member of the order of monotremes, to which they also belonged.
Externally, the animal most closely resembles it - its entire body is covered with hard, coarse hairs, and its sides and back are studded with long, 5-6 cm, yellow needles with black tips. The Australian echidna grows up to 50 cm in length and weighs up to 7 kg. The tail and ears are so small that they are practically invisible. 
The echidna's muzzle is very elongated, up to 7.5 cm in length, and plays an extremely important role in the life of the animal, since its vision is poorly developed, and the environment is learned mostly through smell and hearing. The mouth, which is a very small hole at the end of the muzzle, has no teeth, but it contains a sticky tongue that is 25 cm long. 
With the help of such a tool, the echidna obtains food for itself, consisting of termites, ants, worms and other small insects, in which it is similar to. Powerful front paws equipped with claws allow it to destroy the walls of termite mounds, after which it uses its tongue (video of this process below).
The absence of teeth is compensated by the presence of hard pads in the back of the mouth, against which food is ground. In addition, along with food, soil and sand enter the stomach, which contribute to the final grinding of the prey. 
Australian echidnas are nocturnal and very secretive. Only very recently have scientists obtained data on the reproduction of these animals. It turned out that their mating season lasts from May to September, which corresponds to the Australian winter. At this time, the animals gather in groups consisting of one female and from one to six males. For about a month, the echidnas feed and live together, after which the males begin courtship of the female, which consists of poking her tail with their muzzles and sniffing. 
When the female Australian echidna is ready to mate, the male part of the group begins to circle around her, kicking the ground with their paws. After some time, a trench up to 25 cm deep is formed around the object of male desire, after which they begin to push, pushing each other beyond its limits. The winner who ultimately remains inside the circle will mate with the female. 
It's amazing how the echidna bears its offspring. 3-4 weeks after mating, the female lays an egg! No other mammal does this, with the exception of the platypus. Then the egg, the size of a pea, is placed in a pouch on its stomach (how the animal does this is still unknown), and after 10 days a baby emerges from it. 
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