Echidna Totally Explained

Everything about Tachyglossidae totally explained

Echidnas, also known as spiny anteaters, are four extant mammal species belonging to the Tachyglossidae family of the monotremes. Together with the Platypus, they're the only surviving members of that order. Although their diet consists largely of ants and termites, they're not actually related to the anteater species. They live in New Guinea and Australia. The echidnas are named after a monster in ancient Greek mythology.

Description

Echidnas are small mammals that are covered with coarse hair and spines. Superficially they resemble 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 use 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.
   The long-beaked echidnas have tiny spines on their tongues that helps capture its meals.
   Echidnas and the Platypus are the only egg-laying mammals, known as monotremes. 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's weaned at seven months.
   Male echidnas have a four-headed penis, but only two of the heads are used during mating. The other two heads "shut down" and don't grow in size. The heads used are swapped each time the mammal has sex.

Taxonomy

Echidnas are classified into three genera. The Zaglossus genus includes three extant species and two species known only from fossils, while only one species from the genus Tachyglossus is known. The third genus, Megalibgwilia, is only known from fossils.

Zaglossus

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

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

The two fossil species are:

Zaglossus robustus

Zaglossus hacketti

Tachyglossus

The Short-beaked Echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) is found in southeast 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.

Megalibgwilia

The genus Megalibgwilia is only known from fossils:

Megalibgwilia ramsayi from Late Pleistocene sites in Australia

Megalibgwilia robusta from Miocene sites in Australia

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Further Information

Get more info on 'Tachyglossidae'.

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