echidna
- Also called:
- spiny anteater
echidna, (family Tachyglossidae), any of four species of peculiar egg-laying mammals from Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea that eat and breathe through a bald tubular beak protruding from a dome-shaped body covered in spines. Echidnas have beady eyes and mere slits for ears, and at the end of their beaks are two small nares (or nostrils) and a tiny mouth. Electroreceptors in the skin of the beak may sense electrical signals produced by the muscles of invertebrate prey. Echidnas can be active day or night, probing along the ground slowly and deliberately as they search for prey, but they will shelter themselves from extreme midday heat in burrows or caves. Like their relative the platypus, echidnas have an unusually low but variable body temperature of 29–32 °C (84–90 °F) and cannot tolerate more extreme heat. In spite of echidnas’ outward resemblance to hedgehogs, the two animals are not related and belong to separate mammalian orders. Echidna species can be distinguished by their spines, by the number of claws on their feet, and by the shape and length of the beak.
Short-beaked echidna
The short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) has a straight forward-pointing beak and a heavy coat of spines. It is fairly common in suitable habitats throughout Australia; it is also found in New Guinea, although little is known to science about its range and habits there. The short-beaked echidna is probably Australia’s most widely distributed native mammal, but it is common only where hollow logs, underbrush, and caves allow it to find shelter and ample food in the form of ants, termites, and other invertebrates. It catches prey whole with its long sticky tongue, but it may break larger soft-bodied victims into smaller pieces with its beak. It can open its tiny mouth only wide enough to allow its wormlike tongue to protrude.
The animal’s head-and-body length, including the rudimentary tail, is usually 30–45 cm (12–18 inches). Its body is covered with a combination of fur and spines (modified hairs). Echidnas from colder regions such as Tasmania have long fur that partially obscures the spines, whereas echidnas of arid zones can appear to be covered in spines to the exclusion of fur. Beneath the coat of spines is a well-developed subcutaneous muscle layer, which in part accounts for the animal’s surprising strength. This muscle layer allows the echidna to alter the contours of its stout body and thereby wedge itself into cracks and between tree roots. Echidnas are also able to dig themselves quickly into the ground when disturbed. In doing so, they appear to sink straight down into the soil, and, once dug in, they are well camouflaged by their spines. This combination of spines, strength, and strategy makes the short-beaked echidna difficult prey, and in fact it does enjoy a fairly predator-free existence—although dingos and nonnative foxes, as well as automobiles, are occasional hazards.
High temperature is another hazard faced by short-beaked echidnas. They have few sweat glands and cannot pant to shed excess heat; thus, echidnas may die of heat stress if cool shelter is not found. Researchers suggest that the short-beaked echidna’s habit of blowing mucous bubbles out of the nares in its beak aids in the animal’s thermoregulation: when the bubbles burst, the beak is covered with mucus, which evaporates, helping to cool the body. If the temperature drops too low, torpor or hibernation results.
Long-beaked echidnas
The three living species of long-beaked echidnas (genus Zaglossus) are found only on the island of New Guinea, and they are usually described as being about 60 cm (24 inches) in length, although one individual was recorded at 100 cm (39 inches). Like the short-beaked echidna, these species are highly variable in their fur and spine cover. Generally, their spines are much shorter and less numerous than those of the short-beaked echidna, and the fur ranges from medium to dark brown. The beak is similarly used to probe leaf litter of the forest floor for food. The tongue, however, is shorter than that of the short-beaked echidna and is covered with backward-pointing barbs used to hook earthworms.
Long-beaked echidnas live at a wide range of elevations, generally in forested areas and only where human populations are low. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species considers all three species to be threatened, classifying the eastern long-beaked echidna (Z. bartoni) as vulnerable and the western long-beaked echidna (Z. bruijnii) and Sir David’s long-beaked echidna (Z. attenboroughi) as critically endangered because of hunting (echidnas are edible) and loss of habitat.
Sir David’s long-beaked echidna, which was first discovered in 1961 (but was not described scientifically until 1999), is about the size of a short-beaked echidna. It is distinguished from other long-beaked echidnas by its smaller size and by a shorter, straighter beak, although in other respects it resembles the western long-beaked echidna. The species inhabits a tiny pocket of highland forest in the Cyclops Mountains near Jayapura, Papua, Indonesia. Aside from a single specimen collected by a Dutch botanist in 1961, no other members of the species were known until images captured on a trail camera in 2023 revealed their continued presence in the region. At present there is too little known about Sir David’s long-beaked echidna to describe its habits in any detail.
The western long-beaked echidna, which inhabits the Indonesian province of West Papua, has a downward-pointing beak. Compared with short-beaked echidnas, it has smaller, fewer spines dispersed through its brown fur. Western long-beaked echidnas are nearly identical to eastern long-beaked echidnas; however, they are often larger and heavier. Large western long-beaked echidnas often approach 77.5 cm (about 31 inches) in length and weigh up to 16.5 kg (about 36 pounds). In contrast, the adult weight of the eastern long-beaked echidna ranges from 4.2 to 9.1 kg (about 9 to 20 pounds). The number of claws on each forefoot and hindfoot is also used to separate one species from the other. Although claw number has been shown to vary among individuals of the same species, western long-beaked echidnas tend to have three claws on each of their feet, whereas eastern long-beaked echidnas tend to have five.
Reproduction and life cycle
Echidnas appear to congregate only during the breeding season, when a female may be followed by a train of suitors. After a gestation period of about 23 days, the female usually lays a single leathery egg into a temporary pouch formed by abdominal muscles and subcutaneous mammary tissue. The egg is incubated for another 10 days before the tiny offspring hatches with the aid of an egg tooth and fleshy bulb (caruncle)—structural holdovers from the creature’s reptilian ancestry. The young echidna is protected in a special nursery burrow, where it sucks milk from special mammary hairs (teats and nipples are absent). When the young echidna is fully covered by spines and fur and is capable of feeding, it leaves the burrow for a solitary life. Echidnas are very long-lived; one echidna was reliably recorded at 45 years of age in the wild, and one captive individual was well over 50 years old at the time of its death.
Classification, evolution, and paleontology
Echidnas constitute the family Tachyglossidae, and their only living relative is the platypus. Together these animals constitute the mammalian order Monotremata. Echidnas probably evolved from some unknown monotreme ancestor during the Paleogene Period (66 to 23 million years ago). Echidnas’ lack of teeth has hampered study of their evolutionary history, because teeth fossilize well and often help to determine relationships between mammals. The oldest known fossil echidna was recovered from an eastern Australian cave deposit from about 17 million years ago (during the early Miocene Epoch). Although the material is fragmentary, it suggests that basic echidna characteristics, such as the birdlike toothless skull and robust skeleton specialized for digging, had evolved by this time. Echidnas appear to have once been widespread and diverse, and one especially large form measured more than 1 metre (3.3 feet) in length. Most fossil echidnas (genus Megalibgwilia) of recent epochs represent a type intermediate between today’s short- and long-beaked families.
Anne Marie Musser The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica