SHORT BEAKED ECHIDNA Tachyglossus aculeatus ©Laura Quick
Status: Least Concern
Habitat: Papua New Guinea, Tasmania, and Australia
Diet: Insectivorous, feeding primarily on termites and ants
Length: 12–24 inches (about size of a half basketball)
Weight: 12 pounds
Echidnas and platypuses are the only surviving monotremes, an ancient branch of egg-laying mammals that is believed to have changed little in millions of years. The female lays a single egg that she tucks into a primitive pouch—a fold of skin that holds the egg in place. After hatching, the baby stays in place for a few weeks, until it develops spines, then it moves to a burrow.
The male grows a spur (seen on back leg) that may have been venomous at one point but is current secretion is believed to be used in both fighting for, and attracting, a mate.
Weird Sex Stuff:
Unlike marsupials, monotremes don’t have nipples. The female secretes milk from ducts that are similar to sweat glands onto a “milk patch” of skin, and the baby (called a puggle) laps the nourishment off her skin.
Male echidnas have a four-headed penis. They alternate using two at a time for mating. No one has ever recorded an echidna ejaculating.
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