INTERESTING FACTS
ABOUT THE ECHIDNA
G'day folks,
Welcome to some facts about one of the many weird and wonderful creatures that share Australia with us.
Echidnas
are known better as spiny anteaters,
although they are not related to them, besides that fact that both anteaters and echidnas eat
ants and termites. The echidna is
found in parts of New Guinea and
Australia.
The
echidna has a long tongue around 18cm long that can whip in and out of its
mouth at incredible speeds. This helps the echidna to forage for ants an termites.
The
echidna was named after a monster in Greek mythology! The echidna can dig
incredibly well due to its long claws, meaning that echidna are able to escape
danger by digging straight down.
The
echidna is a small mammal and
the echidna has a long snout that acts as both the mouth and nose of the
echidna. The echidna has no teeth and the echidna feeds by tearing soft logs
apart and then using its long, sticky tongue to feed on the ants and termites that inhabit the
log.
The echidna is a very special mammal and,
along with the platypus,
the echidna is the only other egg-laying mammal in
the world.
The echidna lays eggs that have a soft shell and are kept in the
pouch of the female echidna until the eggs hatch in a couple of weeks. The
young echidna remains in the pouch of the female echidna for around 50 weeks,
when the baby echidna has grown spikes. The mother echidna then transfers the
young echidna to a nursery burrow and returns every few days to feed the baby
until it is around seven months old.
Clancy's comment: I've seen many of these in the Australian bush whilst fishing in remote rivers and streams. They sure look very ancient.
I'm ...
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