This week, Roy was going through some of his photos which were taken last year when he found photos of a very exciting event – meeting an echidna in the wild. Roy loves Australian animals and thinks that they are amazing creatures unlike anything else found in the world. He loves two specific animals most though, the platypus and the echidna. These animals are even more unique than the Australian marsupials, and Roy thinks they are fascinating and beautiful. When he was lucky enough to see an echidna in the wild, he was very excited and had to share the experience!
Echidna’s can be found in many temperate areas of Australia and are also found in parts of New Guinea. Roy has often seen them roaming along the edge of the road (and always warns his friends who are travelling in the bush to watch out for them!), but has never had much luck in getting photographs with them, because they are quite shy and tend to disappear in the grass or curl up in a ball. This echidna, who we met on the road to Barrington Tops, wasn’t too worried about Roy though, and was happy to hang around looking for ants while Roy took his photos.
Echidna’s are sometimes known as the spiny ant eater because their entire body, other then the underside, face and legs is covered with sharp spines. They are shy, slow creatures which are generally solitary, other than at mating times. They have sharp claws which they use to tear apart logs and mounds looking for food, mainly ants, termites, insects and larvae, and for digging. If they are frightened they will dig themselves into the ground so that only their spines are visible, or if the surface is too hard, will curl into a tight ball so that their spines protect their bodies. Many people Roy knows think echidnas are the Australian version of a hedgehog or American ant eater. With their sharp spines and long snout they do look a little similar to these creatures, but they are actually not related to them at all! The echidna is a monotreme, and there is only one other species of monotreme other than the echidna – the platypus. Roy met a platypus at Jenolan Caves and if you would like to read about this meeting, click here.
So what is so special about monotremes like the echidna? Monotremes are mammals but they also have characteristics which are reptilian, including a lower body temperature than most mammals. The biggest difference between monotremes and other animals though comes in the way it gives birth to and feeds its young. All mammals other than monotremes give birth to live young, but monotremes like the echidna lay eggs like a reptile. Echidnas lay their eggs directly into a pouch and after 10 days they hatch. Unlike reptiles, who produce no milk, the young of monotremes, after they hatch, suckle milk from their mother, like mammals. The echidna has no nipples though and the milk is produced through patches on the skin. The young stay in the mothers pouch for about 2 or 3 months (they leave when they start to get too spiky for Mum!), but the mother continues to feed them milk until the baby echidna is about 6 months old.
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