Echidna animal. Description, features, lifestyle and habitat of the echidna

The echidna is a unique animal of its kind. It belongs to a small order of monotreme mammals. This group also includes: amazing creatures like platypuses. The Australian echidna is an extremely primitive creature that, although it feeds its offspring with milk, still retains the ability to lay eggs. It is believed that animals like this were an intermediate link between reptiles and mammals.

Echidna is a unique animal of its kind.

This animal was first described by the famous English zoologist George Shaw in 1792. Like many other relict creatures, echidnas live in a closed area. Monotremes have long since become extinct on other continents, but have survived in:

Australia.
Tasmania.
New Guinea.
Bass Strait Islands.

The Australian continent is very far from others, so the animals living on it have followed their own evolutionary path. The modern echidna is perhaps the most famous surviving member of the genus. The echidna lives almost throughout the entire territory of this continent. Economic activity humans has led to a significant decrease in the number of these animals.

Echidna - ant eater (video)

Physiological characteristics

Initially, researchers considered the echidna to be a relative of the anteater, but this is not true. The study of the anatomical features of these animals made it possible to identify their cloaca - an opening that hides the genital tract, ureter and intestines. This feature makes the echidna similar to birds and reptiles.

This animal looks quite unusual. Its entire back is covered with hard needles formed from compressed wool. The length of the spines reaches 6 cm. On the head, neck, stomach and paws, the creature’s body is covered with coarse hair. And the Australian echidna is distinguished by its rather modest size. The length of the creature usually does not exceed 30-45 cm. Weight can vary from 2.5 to 5 kg. The ears are almost invisible. The Australian echidna has an elongated muzzle, the size of which is approximately 7.5 cm. These creatures have no teeth.

This animal looks quite unusual. Her entire back is covered with hard needles formed from compressed wool.

Despite the fact that the echidna is a warm-blooded animal, its body temperature is unstable. Animals have to resort to certain tricks to maintain it within 30-32°C.

The creature does not have sweat glands, which are present in many species of mammals, so the problem of cooling is quite acute for it. IN hot weather Australian echidna moves to night look life. As the temperature drops, it becomes sluggish. When it gets very cold, the animal goes into hibernation, which can last more than 6 months.

The Australian echidna has very long claws. Thanks to them, the animal digs well and can break the walls of termite mounds to provide itself with food. The echidna has very sticky saliva and a long tongue. They help the creature get ants and termites on which the animal feeds. Outwardly, these creatures really resemble giant anteaters, but these species are not related.

The natural habitat of echidnas allows them to find the necessary amount of food. In rare cases, this creature can dilute its diet with small vertebrates. The animal has no teeth, so it grinds larger prey by moving its tongue across the roof of the mouth. In addition, while feeding, the echidna does not swallow large number sand It promotes better grinding of food in the stomach. The echidna is an extremely clumsy creature, but it is a good swimmer and can cross large bodies of water.

Relatively recently, it was found that these animals differ good eyesight. If there is any threat, the echidna burrows into the ground or curls up into a spiny ball.

Natural enemies of the animal include foxes and dingoes. These predators are able to cope even with an adult.

Echidna on a walk (video)

Gallery: animal echidna (25 photos)

Peculiarities of echidna reproduction

The reproduction process of these animals is of greatest interest. The echidna is a marsupial that reproduces in a specific way. Throughout the year, this creature leads a solitary lifestyle. Each individual, regardless of gender, protects a certain territory where there are termite mounds and other food sources. Despite the fact that echidnas are excellent diggers, they do not have permanent shelters.

The breeding season lasts from early May to September. At this time, animals are looking for a partner. Females emit a characteristic musky odor that attracts echidnas from all surrounding areas.

A small group of 7-10 individuals is formed. Usually the female leads the way, followed by potential mates. The group feeds together and stops to rest. During the movement, the animals follow strictly one after another.

Once the female is completely ready to breed, she lies down on her side and waits. Her potential mates continue to walk around her, pushing the earth onto her side. Through short period a trench can be dug around the female, the size of which reaches about 25-30 cm. After such a peculiar struggle, only the strongest male remains. He mates with a partner lying on her side.

Pregnancy in these animals lasts about 21-28 days. At this time, the female digs a brood hole, which should be dry and warm. Here she produces only 1 egg, which has a leathery shell. In diameter it does not exceed 13-17 mm. Its weight is about 1.5 g.

The animal presses this ball to its stomach, trying not to move too much during this period. After about 7-10 days, the egg hatches into a baby. A special horny bump present on the nose helps him in this. The baby is poorly developed and may look too fragile. The eyes are still covered with skin. Only the front legs are well developed, while the hind legs are almost undeveloped.

The baby echidna, deftly clinging to the tough fur, moves into the pouch. He is safe there. Echidnas do not have mammary glands or nipples that would help feed their offspring. These creatures have special primitive glands through which they milk is released.

In a separate area there can be up to 150 such glands, each of which has a modified hair. By squeezing these hairs with its mouth, the cub feeds.

The baby consumes this milk while remaining in the pouch. There it grows and forms. In just 2 months, a cub can increase its weight 100 times. At this time, its weight reaches about 400 g.

Usually the baby begins to leave his pouch at 50 days of age. The mother leaves the cub in the den, but comes to feed it 5-10 times a day. The duration of milk feeding in echidnas is about 200 days. The already formed cub continues to follow its mother, acquiring the necessary knowledge about the world around it, which it will need in adulthood.

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Australia, a continent rich in a wide variety of strange animals, has sheltered under its sky a small, outwardly very reminiscent of a porcupine, living creature- echidna. This completely harmless animal, feeding exclusively on small worms, insects, ants and termites, for some reason has a rather frightening name: the image of an ancient Greek monster immediately comes to mind - a half-woman, half-snake, bringing real horror to everyone who even bothers to look at her with just one eye . However, as scientists have found, the practically harmless Australian animal has nothing to do with the creepy mythical creature, but relates exclusively to hedgehogs: this is how the word, consonant with the name echidna, is translated from Greek.

Description of the echidna

There are 3 genera in the echidna family, one of which (Megalibgwilia) is considered extinct. There is also the genus Zaglossus, where prochidnas are found, as well as the genus Tachyglossus (Echidna), consisting of a single species - the Australian echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus). The latter was discovered by the British zoologist Georg Shaw, who described it oviparous mammal in 1792.

Appearance

The echidna has modest parameters - with a weight of 2.5–5 kg, it grows to approximately 30–45 cm. Only the Tasmanian subspecies is larger, whose representatives outgrow half a meter. The small head smoothly transitions into the body, studded with hard 5–6 cm needles consisting of keratin. The needles are hollow and colored yellow (often complemented by black at the tips). The spines are combined with coarse brown or black fur.

In animals poor eyesight, but excellent sense of smell and hearing: the ears pick up low-frequency vibrations in the soil emitted by ants and termites. Echidna is smarter than her close relative platypus, since its brain is more developed and mottled a large number convolutions The echidna has a very funny face with a duck beak (7.5 cm), round dark eyes and ears invisible under the fur. The full length of the tongue is 25 cm, and when capturing prey, it extends 18 cm.

Important! The short tail is shaped like a protrusion. Under the tail there is a cloaca - a single opening through which the animal’s genital secretions, urine and feces come out.

The echidna's lifestyle and behavior

The echidna is a solitary animal. She is jealous of her territory and is unlikely to allow any of her own kind into her “hunting zone.” Although the animal’s body, at first glance, is heavy and not entirely suitable for swimming, the echidna moves calmly and easily by swimming. The animal is able to swim across even a large body of water. These animals do not have permanent housing.

Thanks to their acute vision, echidnas instantly notice danger and try to hide in thickets or rock cracks. Well, if the enemy overtakes the echidna where there is no natural refuge, then the animal begins to bury its body into the ground with incredible speed, leaving only its traumatic needles on the surface. Another method of defense against natural opponents is curling up into a ball. Echidnas do this when the area is too open and the soil is hard to burrow into.

Habitat

Australia.
Tasmania.
New Guinea.
Bass Strait Islands.

The Australian continent is very far from others, so the animals living on it have followed their own evolutionary path. The modern echidna is perhaps the most famous surviving member of the genus. The echidna lives almost throughout the entire territory of this continent. Human economic activity has led to a significant decrease in the number of these animals.

Nutrition

The main food of the echidna is ants and termites. Having discovered an anthill, she immediately begins to deftly tear it apart, going deeper until she gets to the ants. She immediately begins to lick them with her long sticky tongue. The sticky secretion, with which her tongue is generously lubricated, is released from the large paired salivary glands.

The echidna has no teeth in its mouth, but the upper palate is strewn with hard keratin plates, against which it crushes insects, pressing them tightly with its tongue. The same fate awaits termites if an Australian echidna suddenly finds a termite mound. Moreover, she easily breaks the hard outer walls of the termite mound with her paws. If she smells ants or termites under the bark of a tree, she can easily tear off a piece of bark with her front paws and lick the insects she finds.

Interesting! Echidnas make very fast movements with their tongue; they can stick it out more than 100 times in a minute!

In search of a treat, the Australian echidna can move stones, even large ones, sometimes simply combing them with its sensitive nose-beak forest floor. Along with food, she, like birds, swallows a large amount of earth and small pebbles. They help digest food by grinding it in the stomach. In addition to ants and termites, the animal's diet includes bugs, worms, and sometimes mollusks. Echidnas drink almost no water at all. They get the liquid from the insects they eat.

Interesting! Scientists suggest that there are special cells on the echidna’s nose with which it detects electromagnetic pulses, emitted by all living creatures. Only sharks and whales have such receptors; they have not yet been found in any land mammal.

How does it produce offspring?

Once a year female lays a single egg. It is the size of a large pea and has a soft shell. The animal lies on its back and, pushing the egg with its snout, rolls it along its abdomen into the pouch that appears on its abdomen. After 10 days, a baby emerges from the egg, naked and completely without spines, weighing half a gram. Echidna mother feeds the baby very thick milk, which forms on the skin of her abdomen. The baby licks it with his long tongue and grows very quickly. After 2 months, the animal already weighs 400 g, its weight increases a thousand times. The baby’s stay in the pouch is now dangerous because of the needles that are starting to grow, and the female is especially for him digs a "children's" hole. It comes to feed the cub once every 5-10 days and does this for up to 6 months.

The Australian 5 cent coin features a “portrait” of an echidna. Funny Millie, also an echidna, was the symbol of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

In case of danger, the Australian echidna curls up into a ball, just like the hedgehog we know does.
Tasmanian echidnas, which live in Tasmania, have short spines and they are not so densely spaced, so they do not need highly developed scratching claws.
Echidnas, like humans, belong to a small group of long-lived mammals that can live more than 50 years. Such a long lifespan is very unusual for such a small animal.
The platypus and echidna, found in Australia, are the only mammals that lay eggs.
Female echidnas do not have the classic exits of the mammary glands - nipples. The milk flows through the pores into a hairy sac on the front of the pouch, from where the baby licks it.

The origin of these funny little animals is still little studied. Covered with quills like porcupines, similar in type of feeding to anteaters, Australian echidnas are considered the most mysterious and interesting animals on the planet. They once had a huge number of relatives. Currently, their number has been reduced to just one representative - the echidna. Tachyglossus aculeatus are found in eastern Australia and its westernmost regions. They live among bushes (in dry bush), preferring rocky areas. The main defense is long needles. Nore doesn't dig.

It is rare to see an echidna larger than 40 cm. Small body covered with long 6-centimeter needles of white and brown shades. Short, coarse brown hair grows between the needles. This land animal has a long, thin snout ending in a small, narrow mouth. The parotid region of the Australian echidna is distinguished by a particularly thick and long coat of fur. The tail is very small and looks like a tiny protrusion covered with spines.

Beautiful photos of echidna:

During the day, an unusual animal hides in the hollows of trees, in the voids under their roots. At night he goes in search of food. It feeds on termites, ants, and sometimes earthworms. Sensing prey, the echidna sharply throws out its sticky long tongue, to which the victim sticks. During the cold months it flows into short time in hibernation (good subcutaneous fat allows you to do without food). The echidna has fine hearing, but very poor eyesight. Hatches eggs. The egg is located in a primitive pouch formed during the breeding season. The cub is fed with milk.

Video: Echidna (lat. Tachyglossidae)

Echidnas are mammals from the family of the same name in the order Monotremes. Their only truly close relative is the platypus. In addition, distant connections can be traced between echidnas and more advanced insectivores: hedgehogs and shrews. The name echidna itself comes from the ancient Greek word “echinos” (“hedgehog”) and is generated by the extreme thorniness of the beast. There are only 3 species of these mammals in the world: the Australian echidna, Attenborough's echidna and Bruyn's echidna.

Australian echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus).

Bruijn's echidna (Zaglossus bruijni).

Physiologically, echidnas are as primitive as platypuses. They have a low and unstable body temperature, varying between 30-35°C; during hibernation it can drop to 5°C. Thermoregulation is present at a rudimentary level: echidnas do not have developed sweat glands; in the heat, they can only slightly increase evaporation due to the frequency of inhalation and exhalation. By the way, echidnas are incredibly resistant to oxygen deficiency; they can hold their breath for 12 minutes! Their intestines, genitals and excretory organs, like birds and platypuses, end in a common duct - the cloaca.

All species of these animals are narrow endemics. The Australian echidna lives in Australia and New Guinea; its special, Tasmanian, subspecies lives on the island of Tasmania. As for the echidnas, both of these species live exclusively on the island New Guinea. The habitats of echidnas are very diverse; they can be found in foothill forests Western Australia and in semi-deserts in the center of the continent. Accordingly, the way of life of animals differs in different parts range. In the foothills, where snow falls in winter, echidnas hibernate, warm areas are awake all year round; in areas with temperate climate active at any time of the day; in semi-deserts they go out hunting only on cool nights. Animals sleep in burrows.

Echidna swims across a body of water.

These animals stay solitary, meeting each other only in mating season. Each individual adheres certain territory, however, the boundaries of the plots can be shared by neighbors. Echidnas move slowly and very clumsily, since their curved claws prevent them from developing decent speed. At the same time, these animals are excellent swimmers and are able to overcome even wide rivers. Due to low socialization, echidnas do not make any sounds.

The diet of these animals is very similar to the diet of shrews and hedgehogs. Their favorite food is ants and termites, which the echidna licks off with its sticky tongue. Long tongue is ejected from the mouth with a frequency of 100 times per minute and is capable of penetrating into the narrowest crevices. In addition, echidnas eat earthworms, slugs, and snails. The shells of mollusks and the chitinous coverings of insects are rubbed against the horny denticles that cover the inner surface of the “beak”. Interestingly, there is practically no acid in the stomach of echidnas, like in other mammals, and the reaction of gastric juice is close to neutral. The extraordinary sensitivity of the “nose beak” helps them get food. In addition to olfactory receptors, it has unique sensory organs that, apart from echidnas, are found only in the platypus - electroreceptors. With their help, echidnas detect electromagnetic vibrations emitted by prey. In addition to all this, these animals are able to hear infrasounds generated by the digging activity of insects.

The breeding season for echidnas lasts from May to September. At this time, individuals of both sexes emit a sharp musky odor; they turn out their cloaca and rub them on the ground, leaving odorous marks. Up to 10 males can simultaneously follow one female! Moreover, the “suitors” line up depending on their rank and size. This “locomotive” can travel for several weeks. Pregnancy lasts 22 days, after which the female lays 1-2 disproportionately small eggs in a pouch on her abdomen. The size of each egg does not exceed 13-17 mm; they have a soft, leathery, cream-colored shell. Incubation lasts 10 days.

The captured female echidna assumed a protective pose. Visible in the center of the belly tiny egg, deposited by her in the brood pouch.

Hatched newborns barely reach 1.5 cm in length and weigh 0.3-0.4 g! Their childhood is spent in a hole dug by their parent. Unlike hedgehogs, which become covered with spines just a few hours after birth, baby echidnas for a long time remain naked. They lick milk directly from the surface of the mother’s skin, since these animals do not have formed mammary glands. Echidnas grow quite slowly and become completely independent only by 7 months. But the kids, even in early age can remain alone in the hole for a long time. They tolerate the absence of their mother for 1-2 days without the slightest harm to their health, and then at a time they can drink an amount of milk equal to 20% of their body weight. Interestingly, echidna milk changes its composition during the feeding process and becomes more nutritious every month. Milk is rich in iron compounds, which give it a pinkish tint. Animals reach sexual maturity only by 4-5 years.

This baby echidna named Bo was found on the road, probably falling out of its mother's pouch. The photo shows him at 55 days of age.

There are a lot of echidnas in nature natural enemies: they are hunted Tasmanian devils, dingoes, pythons, monitor lizards, snakes. After the colonization of Australia, these predators were joined by foxes and feral cats. Echidnas, despite their tiny beady eyes, are distinguished by their vigilance. They notice the approach of the enemy from afar and try to escape unnoticed. If pursued, they begin to dig a hole, plunging into soft soil in literally a matter of seconds. Only a small section of its spiny back remains sticking out, and the echidna can spend a relatively long time in this position, practically without breathing. If digging a hole is impossible for some reason (the enemy is close or the ground is too hard), then the animal simply curls up into a ball. These animals have a special circular muscle, like hedgehogs, that allows them to “pull” on themselves own skin. However, this method of protection is imperfect, since the ball is not continuous; sometimes the predator manages to grab the echidna by the soft belly and eat it. Nevertheless, the main factor influencing the decline in the number of echidnas remains the reduction of habitats due to displacement by humans.

The echidna used the “hedgehog” tactic; it covered the least protected parts of the body with its clawed paws.

Along with monotremes and insectivores, echidnas are considered one of the most primitive mammals. Their intellectual efforts are aimed exclusively at finding food; these animals cannot be trained. But still, compared to the platypus, the echidna’s brain has a more complex cortex, which in captivity is expressed in some curiosity and an attempt to study unfamiliar objects. And keeping echidnas is much easier than keeping platypuses. They calmly perceive the presence of people and happily eat a variety of foods, including those that are unusual for them in nature (for example, milk). Observers have repeatedly noted the phenomenon of extraordinary physical strength, completely unexpected for such small animals. So, one day a curious echidna, left in the kitchen, moved... a buffet filled with dishes. In addition, physiological studies have confirmed that even such primitive animals dream! True, in echidnas this process occurs only under special conditions - when body temperature drops to 25°C.

The 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 strewn with small, hard, sharp, horny needles. The echidna's tongue is sticky and long. She can extend it very far to catch an 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 hedgehog and porcupine spines. Echidna is a bird animal. This mammal lays eggs like birds. Just like birds, it has one exit hole for laying eggs and excrement. The female places the egg in a pouch, which disappears after reproduction and is formed during a new clutch. An echidna can lay only one egg at a time.

The hatched baby is blind, naked and helpless. He sits in the bag until it becomes too crowded for him. The main food for the echidna are ants and insects. This animal digs ants out of the ground, and catches flying insects with its 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.

The 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 one lives strange beast in Australia and New Guinea.