Echidna

All you ever wanted to know

Echidnas are members of the Monotremes, one of the three great orders of mammals. Monotremes are mammals that lay eggs, and have only one external opening, called a cloaca, through which all waste matter and reproductive substances pass. (The word monotreme means "one opening.")

Echidnas vary in appearance, generally with climate. Echidnas in northern warmer zones tend to have more spines, while those in colder climates farther south tend to have more fur. The Tasmanian version of the Echidna has so much fur, the spines only show through on the flanks.  Attempts have been made to classify echidnas into various subspecies based on this feature, and other attributes, like the relative size of the different toes. However, today most experts agree that the variation from one population to another is a smooth transition and creating subspecies barriers is a very artificial process.

Echidnas also vary in colour, the predominant shades being black or dark brown, but "blonde" are also not uncommon, and are frequently mistaken for Albinos, which they are not. The Echidnas of Kangaroo Island, off South Australia, are mainly blonde.

Echidnas eat ants and termites, thus the name spiny anteater. They do this with their tongues. Echidna tongues are 15-18 centimeteres long and oval in cross section, they can shoot out of the tiny mouth very quickly and be bent in U-shapes to follow ant tunnels. The Echidna has no teeth, food is ground up with special hard pads on the pack of the tongue and top of the mouth. A three kilogram echidna can eat 200 grams of ants in ten minutes.

Echidnas prefer termites to ants, both because of a higher food and fat content, and less tendency to bite in self-defence.They also tend to prefer the queens,winged males etc. to the workers which are more likely to fight back and have less meat on them.

Echidnas live in some areas where there is no water available at least part of the year, and we are unsure how they get water. It has been calculated that it might be possible for echidnas to get the minimum water they need from their food. Echidnas have also been observed to use a common trick of desert animals:licking the early morning dew from plants.

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Troy Ruivenkamp and Ben Stock.
Copyright © 1998 by Colonel Hogan Productions. All rights reserved.
Revised: 25 May 1998 10:10:31 +1100.