Newborn echidna. Australian echidna: where it lives, features of the animal, nutrition. Is there something in common between echidnas and anteaters

Echidna animal is a funny animal. From Greek it sounds like "hedgehog". The resemblance to the prickly fellow is striking. But the real relative is the platypus, in the monotreme family.

As you understand, the echidna is completely covered with needles, with the exception of the abdominal part and sides. The needles go from yellow to dark, reaching up to 10 cm.

Skin color is brown. It weighs a little more than a domestic dog, around 7 kg, 50 cm long. The body is clumsy, and the head is disproportionately small.

The muzzle of the echidna is elongated, due to the long tubular nose, similar to the proboscis. The eyes are small and black, the tail is about a centimeter and is not visible during examination. The genitourinary system, the intestines are connected to the cloaca. The limbs are developed, on the front claws for the convenience of hunting, digging, and on the back, the second fingers are elongated and have a thin bend in order to comb out the fur between the needle hairs.

These are endemic, that is, they can be found on the Australian continent, the islands of Tasmania, New Guinea and on the ground in the Bass Strait. They like temperate or dry climates. You can meet echidna in forests, deserts, thickets, gorges. She has no sweat glands, the temperature is lowered to 35 degrees, in sleep mode up to 5. Therefore, she can live in hot conditions.

Significant length of daylight hours Australian echidna sleeping, hunting at night. To do this, she digs holes in the bushes with her powerful paws. It is noticed that it is often next to rabbits or occupies them. In winter, it can hibernate for 4 months, always tries to hide in the shade in summer.

In search of food, food lovers can travel up to 15 km. They feed mainly on ants and termites. This process is fascinating, since nature has deprived them of their teeth.

The marsupial echidna throws out a tongue with a sticky consistency up to 16 cm and captures food. Special jagged processes on it and the palate allow you to crush food. Manipulations occur quickly up to 100 times per minute, she is adapted to throw out her weapon.

Despite a lonely existence, the animal breeds once a year, starting in May. The female rubs against the ground, leaving a sharp musky aroma, attracting males. Up to a dozen individuals go by train for one week. After mating, the female echidna leaves and lays one egg.

It is curious that before laying on the animal's stomach, wool rolls, releasing a sticky secret, so a fragile testicle is glued to the body and is in a kind of handbag. The cub will leave her in two months.

The newborn feeds on milk, which seeps on the skin of the abdomen, since mother nature did not conceive the nipples for this mammal. Further, leaving the offspring, the echidna visits them 1-2 times within seven days, they spend the rest of the time in a mink.

Enemies

Previously, the Australian echidna was actively exterminated by people for food. Main Predators:

• Tasmanian devil;
• Dingo dogs;

In case of danger, the echidna quickly burrows into the sand, pushing only thorns on the surface or curls up into a ball, like a hedgehog.

These are the only animals of their class that have electroreceptors on their beaks that can catch the magnetic fields of other fellows, prey.

As you have already noticed, the echidna is a mammal that lays eggs. The brain is primitive, but in addition to searching for edible insects, it can be distracted by unusual objects, when compared with the same platypus.

The echidna lives for 13 years, and they exist well in captivity, but do not acquire broods. In one zoo, a long-liver was recorded who crossed the 40-year mark. To preserve the population, extermination is excluded, and two of them (short-beaked, long-beaked) are added to the Red Book.

Echidna is a very strange animal. She has a narrow elongated muzzle, similar to a tube, short strong legs with long curved claws. With their help, she quickly digs up the ground. The echidna has a beak but no teeth. Instead of teeth, her entire palate is dotted with small hard, sharp, horny needles. The tongue of the echidna is sticky and long. She can pull it out very far to catch the insect.
This animal has a flattened body, the length of which is more than 60 cm. The entire skin of the animal is covered with hard short spines. They resemble the spines of a hedgehog and a porcupine. Echidna is a bird animal. This mammal lays eggs like birds. Like birds, she has one outlet for laying eggs and feces. The female places the egg in a bag, which disappears after reproduction, and is formed during a new laying. An echidna can only lay one egg at a time.

The hatched baby is blind, naked and helpless. He sits in the bag until it becomes crowded there. The main food for echidnas are ants and insects. This animal digs ants out of the ground, and catches flying insects with a sticky tongue. If the echidna is in danger, it immediately burrows into the ground (literally in a few minutes) and the attacker stumbles upon its sharp needles.

Echidna digs holes under the roots of stumps and trees. During the day, she rests in a hole, and at night she goes hunting. This strange beast lives in Australia and New Guinea.

Gallery of photos and pictures of echidna

echidnas (Tachyglossidae) - a family of mammals of the monotreme order. Also known by their Australian name "spiny anteater", they are the only extant animals from the monotreme series, with the exception of the platypus. There are currently three types malicious united in two genera of the echidna family.
Echidna covered with coarse wool and needles. The maximum length of their body is approximately 30 centimeters. Their jaws are elongated into a narrow "beak". Echidna limbs are short and very strong, with large claws, making these animals powerful diggers. Echidnas do not have teeth, they have a very small mouth, so they feed by licking termites, ants and other small invertebrates with their long sticky tongue, which are crushed by pressing their tongue against the sky in their mouths.
E shy most of the year (except for the mating season, which occurs in the middle of winter, usually in July and August) live alone. They are territorial animals, but neighboring territories may overlap somewhat. Echidna all the time slowly walks its territory in search of prey, without having a permanent lair. Despite its thick and clumsy body, it swims well, and is able to cross fairly large bodies of water.
These animals have fairly sharp eyesight, and quickly notice the slightest movement around them. In case of disturbance or some kind of threat, the echidna quickly hides in dense bush, or in earthen or rock crevices. In the absence of such natural hiding places, the echidna burrows surprisingly quickly into the ground until only a few needles from the uppermost region of the back remain outside. Or, if the terrain is flat and open, and the ground is hard, they simply curl into a ball.
Few predators can cope with such protection: experienced dingoes, foxes, sometimes cats and pigs can kill an adult echidna by catching it on a patch of hard, equal soil and attacking it in the belly (the ball into which the echidna turns is not solid). Also, according to some reports, Australian monitor lizards prey on young vipers. The female echidna lays one soft-shelled egg 22 days after mating and places it in her pouch. "Incubation" takes ten days; the cub then feeds on milk, which is secreted by the pores of the skin on two milk fields (monotreme mammals do not have nipples) and remains in the mother's pouch for 45 to 55 days, when its needles begin to grow. After that, the mother digs a baby hole, where she leaves the cub, returning every 4-5 days to feed him with milk. Thus, the young echidna feeds until it reaches the age of seven months.
Modern echidnas are united in the echidna family and are divided into two genera:

1. The genus Zaglossus (prochidna) includes two extant species, as well as two species known from fossils.
2. the genus Tachyglossus (echidna) includes the only extant species, and no extinct species have been found in it at present.

O ba species of this genus are endemic to New Guinea. Both of them are rare, but lately so that the natives of this island hunt them for food. These echidnas feed on leaf litter in forests, preying on worms and insects.

Australian echidna. The Australian echidna lives in the southeast of New Guinea and almost throughout Australia: from the Australian Alps, where snow falls in winter, to the deserts of the middle of the continent; wherever you can find its main food - ants and termites. The size of this species is somewhat smaller than the species of the genus Zaglossus, and the length of the coat is longer: in the subspecies that lives in the region with the coldest winters (on the island of Tasmania), the coat is sometimes even longer than the needle.
This echidna is a long-lived species and a species that easily adapts to different conditions. In the mountains in winter, it hibernates, and in the desert during the hot daytime it hides in the crevices of rocks, and comes out to hunt only at night (in other parts of the range it is a diurnal species). At the same time, in the desert in cool weather, the short-nosed echidna can be active during the day.

Echidna. And it's not a "call-out" at all. This is a rare and amazing animal -. A plump and nosy creature with a long tongue. It is born from an egg, but feeds on milk.

Australian echidna refers to mammals. The name is translated from Greek as "quick tongue" or "prickly". Hearing the approach or rustling, the animal becomes motionless and differs little from the environment. This report talks about an unusual animal, similar to, because it has both hair and spines.

Description

The Australian echidna is the owner of a dark brown fur coat with stiff protruding hairs. On the back and sides there are large quills, like those of a porcupine, black at the ends and yellowish at the base, 5-6 cm in size.

An inconspicuous and small tail measuring 1 cm is also covered with a bunch of needles.

An adult animal is only 40-60 cm in length, weighing 5-7 kg. Instead of lips and nose - elongated stigma-proboscis, raised up. There are no teeth, and the echidna's mouth is so small that she is not able to open it to grab her prey. Echidna protrudes 15 or more centimeters tongue - sticky and long, and again he is drawn in only with food stuck to it.

It has powerful and strong, short paws with claws. The widest and very long claw is on the 2nd toe of the hind paws, which is about 3-4 times longer than the rest. Scientists have thought a lot: why does the echidna need such a long “tool”? It turned out - for the toilet. It is difficult for a mammal to care for a prickly fur coat. She cannot lick, as is customary with animals. The soft “palms” of the echidna are also not suitable for cleaning; the animal can injure itself with sharp needles. To clean the fur that grows between the needles, these long claws of the hind legs help her.

How does it live and what does it eat?

The Australian echidna is nocturnal and very secretive animal. Sleeping all day therefore, it is very difficult to observe it in nature. It has excellent hearing and smell, but poor eyesight.

• Echidna lives in burrows. She digs them for herself in dense thickets of shrub vegetation. The nutritious menu of the animal is ants, invertebrate worms and mollusks. Echidna is an excellent swimmer, but runs poorly.

In cold weather, the Australian echidna hibernates. At the same time, fat reserves under the skin allow the animal to go without food for a month or more. It is arranged to rest under stones, and under the roots of vegetation, and in the hollows of fallen trees.

Australian echidna swiftly hides from his pursuers by burrowing into the ground. Rolling into a ball is another form of defense. An alarmed animal makes sounds resembling grunting.

How does it produce offspring?

once a year female lays a single egg. Its size is like a large pea, and it has a soft shell. The animal lays down on its back and, pushing the egg with its stigma, rolls it along the abdomen into a bag that has appeared on the stomach. After 10 days, a baby appears from the egg, naked and completely without thorns, weighing half a gram. mother echidna feeds the cub with very thick milk, which forms on the skin of her abdomen. The baby licks it with a long tongue, grows very quickly. After 2 months, the animal already weighs 400 g, its weight increases a thousand times. The stay of the cub in the bag is now dangerous due to the needles starting to grow, and the female is especially for him digs a "baby" hole. She comes to feed the cub once every 5-10 days and does this up to 6 months.

On a coin of 5 Australian cents there is a "portrait" of an echidna. Funny Millie, also a echidna, was the symbol of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

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The Australian echidna is one of the many egg-laying animal species belonging to the mammal family. It lives in the wild not only in Australia, but also in Tasmania and New Guinea.

Due to its ability to adapt to different climates, the animal can live in captivity in almost every corner of the world.

The echidna animal differs from other animals in its specificity.

• The appearance of the Australian echidna is very reminiscent of a hedgehog, and there are also common similar features with a porcupine. Almost the entire surface of the echidna's body is covered with sharp needles.
• Unlike most animals, echidna offspring are born from laid eggs. This phenomenon is mainly found in birds, but also in some mammals.
• Unlike birds, which incubate their eggs in nests, the Australian echidna carries them in a pouch located in the abdomen, just like a kangaroo.
• The animal feeds, just like an anteater.
• The hatched offspring feed on mother's milk, like most mammals.
• According to scientists, it can be concluded that the echidna's nose is equipped with unique cells responsible for capturing electromagnetic impulses. It is due to these signals that the animal can track all living creatures around it.

Very often you can find a comparison of echidna with a bird, it is even often called a "bird beast".

Appearance

On average, the body length of an echidna is about 40 centimeters. The entire surface of the back is covered with sharp needles mixed with wool. The echidna's neck is not visible, so it seems that its small head abruptly passes into the body. The mouth of this cute animal is represented by a tubular shape, inside of which is a long sticky tongue. In order to navigate the terrain, the echidna uses its beak. This is the only source of knowledge of the world, because the animal's eyesight is not the best.

The paws of the echidna are very muscular, albeit short. On the paws, like many mammals, five fingers. The claws of the echidna are long, especially on the hind paw. The longest claw reaches five centimeters. They need it to comb their needles. In addition to the back, the animal has a small tail also covered with needles. The animal itself is squat, deftly digging the ground.

Lifestyle

By nature, the echidna prefers to live alone. The animal very carefully guards its territory, and will fight with all its might against unwanted guests. But animals do not acquire permanent housing, preferring instead to move freely around the world. In appearance, the animal cannot be said that it can even swim across a small body of water, but this is not so. Echidna is a great swimmer.

Animals are good developed self-preservation instinct. They are able to instantly react to danger and take appropriate measures to protect themselves from the enemy. The most common place for shelter in times of danger is thickets and rock crevices.

If the echidna comes face to face with its enemy, then it begins to curl up into a ball very quickly, exposing its needles as a defensive weapon. This method very well helps to save the life of the echidna. But the animal uses this method of self-defense when the ground is too hard, and the echidna does not have the opportunity to dig a hole for itself to hide in it.

Nutrition

The basis in the diet of this animal are termites, mollusks and ants. For the extraction of food, the animal can easily ruin an anthill, peel off the bark of a tree. Due to its muscular paws, the Australian "hedgehog" can easily move a large stone and feast on insects and worms under it. At the time of nutrition, small pebbles and earth enter the digestive tract along with food, which favorably affect the process of digestion of food.

Echidna has a very long and strong tongue, which she throws out over long distances. Due to the sticky surface of the tongue, prey sticks to it, which the animal subsequently crushes in its oral cavity.

The hunting process mainly takes place in the dark. During the day, foraging is carried out only in cool weather. This is because the animal completely lacks the glands responsible for sweating. And the body temperature does not exceed 32 degrees. That is why the Australian animal is very does not tolerate heat well, however, like cold.

At too low a temperature, the echidna becomes lethargic and all processes responsible for vital activity become dull.

It is worth noting that the animal, under adverse weather conditions, can hibernate, the duration of which is up to 4 months. At this time, nutrients in the body come from the fat accumulated over the season.

It is worth noting that echidnas consume very little water. The supply of the necessary fluid for the normal functioning of the body comes with the eaten insects.

reproduction

Until 2003, the process of reproduction of these animals was a mystery to all mankind. According to the results of the research, it was found that the period of fertilization in these animals begins in early spring and ends in early September.

At the time of the mating season, echidnas can coexist together and live in a small group, not exceeding 6 individuals. At the head of this group is always a female, who is the only one of her kind in this small "community".

Courtship of the female, by the males, lasts for one month. If the female lies on her back, then she shows that she is ready for fertilization.

At this point, the males begin violent activity. They begin to tread a trench around the female, 30 centimeters deep. The trench itself is a kind of "battlefield", where the males are trying to push each other out of it. Ultimately, the winner mates with the female. The gestation period lasts up to 4 weeks. Moreover, the gestational age depends on the air temperature. The colder, the longer the pregnancy.

Who would have thought, but this mammal, during pregnancy, forms a special bag in which females lay leather eggs. The calf, being born, usually after 10 weeks, moves to the front of the mother's pouch, where it feeds on milk. He stays there for 2 months, after which, the female releases him to the expanses of the outside world.

But her concern doesn't end there. She digs a small hole, which is located in a secluded place, and every five days she comes to visit him. The duration of such visits lasts up to 6 months.

It is after this period that an adult individual is formed from a small cub, capable of independently obtaining food for itself and living separately from its mother.

Breeding Facts

• the female can have offspring from 3 years;
• reproduction occurs extremely rarely, usually no more than once every five years;
• for one fertilization, the female can have only one child;
• pouch for carrying offspring, appears only during pregnancy.

Due to its adaptation to climatic conditions, everyone can admire this wonderful animal in the zoo.