Echidna

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Echidnas

Echidnas, sometimes also referred to as "spiny anteaters", are the only surviving monotremes apart from the Platypus. The four surviving species, native to New Guinea and Australia, all belong to the Tachyglossidae family. The echidna is named after a monster in ancient Greek mythology.

Taxonomy

Echidnas are classified into two genera. The Zaglossus genus includes three surviving species and two extinct species known only from fossils; while only one species of the Tachyglossus genus is known.

Zaglossus genus

The three living Zaglossus species are endemic to New Guinea. They are rare, and hunted for food. They forage in leaf litter on the forest floor, eating earthworms and insects.

The Western Long-beaked Echidna (Zaglossus bruijni) of the highland forests.
Sir David's Long-beaked Echidna (Zaglossus attenboroughi), recently discovered, and prefers a still higher habitat.
The Eastern Long-beaked Echidna (Zaglossus bartoni), of which 4 distinct subspecies have been identified

The two extinct species are:

Zaglossus robustus, known only from fossils.
Zaglossus hacketti, also known only from fossils.

Tachyglossus genus

The Short-beaked Echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) is found in south east New Guinea and also occurs in almost all Australian environments: from the snow-clad Australian Alps to the deep deserts of the Outback: essentially anywhere that ants and termites are available. Its size is smaller than the Zaglossus species and it has longer hair.

Description

Echidnas are small mammals that are covered with coarse hair and spines. Superficially they resemble both the anteaters of South America and other spiny mammals like hedgehogs and porcupines. They have snouts which have the functions of both the mouth and nose. Their snouts are elongated and slender. They have very short, strong limbs with large claws and are powerful diggers. Echidnas have a tiny mouth and a toothless jaw. They feed by tearing open soft logs, anthills and the like, and using their long, sticky tongue which protrudes from their snout to collect their prey. The Short-beaked Echidna's diet consists largely of ants and termites, while the Zaglossus species typically eat worms and insect larvae.

Apart from the Platypus, the four species of echidna are the only egg-laying mammals. The female lays a single soft-shelled, leathery egg twenty-two days after mating and deposits it directly into her pouch. Hatching takes ten days; the young echidna, called a puggle, then sucks milk from the pores of the two milk patches (monotremes have no nipples) and remains in the pouch for forty-five to fifty-five days, at which time it starts to develop spines. The mother digs a nursery burrow and deposits the puggle, returning every five days to suckle it until it is weaned at seven months.

In popular culture

From the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series, an echidna by the name of Knuckles is a popular anthropomorphic character, having a reddish fur coat with spikes that resemble heavy dreadlocks and a bad temper. Like Sonic, the character has little basis on the creature he is derived from, and one would be hard-pressed to make the association based on appearance alone.

References

Flannery, T.F. and Groves, C.P. 1998 A revision of the genus Zaglossus (Monotremata, Tachyglossidae), with description of new species and subspecies. Mammalia, 62(3): 367-396
Parker, Janet "Echidna Love Trains", "Scribbly Gum" online magazine, http://www.abc.net.au/science/scribblygum/June2000/default.htm
Rismiller, Peggy "Echidnas and Goannas of Kangaroo Island", http://www.earthwatch.org/results/interviews/rismiller.html

External links

Animal Diversity Web Tachyglossidae
Echidna Central web directory
"The Enigma of the Echidna" by Doug Stewart, National Wildlife, April/May 2003.
New South Wales Parks and Wildlife Service on behavior of short-beaked echidnas
Website of the Pelican Lagoon Research and Wildlife Center, on the frontlines of echidna research
Australian Wildlife, concise but broad range of information
Scribbly Gum - Australian Broadcasting Corporation online magazine, article "Echidna Love Trains": Echidna spotting, Trains (breeding behaviour), The amazing puggle (young), Species, Dreaming (REM sleep), Managing populations; June 2000

Monotremes | Mammals of Australia

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