There
are some interesting Australian
echidna facts.
It is one of the most special Australian
animals.
Like platypus,
they are the world’s last surviving monotremes
– an early branch of mammals that still lay eggs like reptiles.
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They
are not some of the world’s smartest animals, but their living
strategies and specialised diet have let them survive from the times of
dinosaurs.
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Australian Short Beaked Echidna (Tachyglossus
aculeatus)
is a hedgehog-looking animal but larger (about 400mm long and weighs
2-7kg), with a slender snout, dark to light brown fur and cream,
dark-tipped spines. It has been successful to adapt to every
single region in Australia, from snowy mountains to tropical
rainforests – not many Australian native animals have. It is a solitary
animal, and it is active either day or night depending on the climate
it lives in. It's usually quiet but may sometimes mew softly. It’s well
adapted to the local climate – a Tasmanian
individual’s fur can be longer than the
spikes, and in alpine areas of Victoria
they hibernate. It is a terrestrial animal but will swim if needed and
lives basically in any habitat where its food is found. When
threatened, it burrows itself into soil or rolls itself into a ball and
raises its spines.
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Its secret to success is that it lives
exclusively on ants and
termites – a niche not very competitive amongst other Australian
animals. Its snout contains electro-receptors that detect the moving
muscles of ants and termites. It burrows into ant nests and termite
mounds, then enters its 18cm-long tongue and sucks the insects into
its
mouth. It swallows a lot of soil in the process, but it poohs it all
out in cylindrical droppings.
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Their breeding season is July to September
when
the courtship is on
with many males chasing a single female. About two weeks after mating
she lays a single 15mm-long egg and incubates it in her temporary pouch
for about 10 days. Echidna milk is pink because it's iron-rich. The
baby hatches with no spines and will remain in the pouch until it has
got short spines. It will then live in a burrow and start discovering
outside world another three months later, but is vulnerable to
predators during the first year. Echidna is known to live up to 49
years and its species status is secure.
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They are found everywhere in Australia and
are
quite easy to see
compared to many other Australian animals even during the day time,
particularly in colder climates. Some good places to see them are Carnarvon
National Park in Queensland
and the Kosciuszko
National Park in New
South Wales.
Note:
This site uses
British English, which is the English we use in Australia. You will
find words like "traveller", "harbour" and "realise", and they are all
correct in the language used in Australia.
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