Echidna is an animal of Australia: description, habitat and interesting facts. Echidna animal

In this article we will talk about a very strange in all respects and a unique animal with a peculiar and very funny appearance.

Many people are familiar with an animal that looks like an echidna. This is a hedgehog. In fact, the animal considered in the article, being a cross between a hedgehog and an anteater, is the very close relative platypus The echidna is another of the few mammals that lay eggs.

Varieties

The echidna family includes 3 genera: the extinct genus Megalibgwilia, the echidnas and the true echidnas.

Today, echidnas have only 1 genus left (previously there were 4). Among the real ones, the Australian and Tasmanian echidnas stand out.

The echidna has an unusually elongated muzzle, strong short legs with curved long claws, with the help of which it quickly digs up the ground.

Strangely, she has no teeth, but she does have a highly modified beak. Instead of teeth, the echidna has sharp small horny spines. AND unusual language She has a very long and sticky one. With its help, the echidna easily catches insects.

The animal's body is flattened, its length is more than 60 centimeters, the skin is covered with short, hard spines, reminiscent of the spines of a porcupine and a hedgehog.

Australian animal

The Australian echidna was first described in 1792 by George Shaw (English zoologist), who later described the platypus.

The scientist mistakenly classified this strange animal found on an anthill as an animal called an anteater. Later (about 10 years later) Edward Home (anatomist) discovered common feature in the platypus and echidna - the cloaca, into which the ureters, intestines and genital tracts open. In connection with this, a detachment of monotremes was identified.

The Australian echidna is smaller than the echidna. Its length is usually from 30 to 45 centimeters, and its weight is 2.5-5 kilograms. The Tasmanian subspecies is slightly larger, reaching 53 centimeters.

The animal's head is covered with rough thick hair, the short neck is almost invisible. The muzzle is elongated into a narrow, slightly curved or straight “beak” (75 millimeters).

The limbs, like all echidnas, are shortened. Paws are equipped with powerful flat claws that are capable of digging the ground and breaking the walls of termite mounds.

Features of the Australian echidna

The continent of Australia is located quite far from other continents, so the animals living on it have gone through their own evolutionary path. Prochidna moderna represents the best-known surviving member of the genus. Australian echidna lives throughout almost the entire continent.

The animals of Australia are diverse and numerous. The echidna among them is the most unique creature. In these places it has the following parameters: a hairless, pointed nose with well-developed nostrils and a small mouth opening at the very tip.

The spines grow from thick wool. They cover the entire back and sides of the echidna.

Each paw has 5 strong claws, which are perfectly suited for digging. The 2nd toe of the hind legs ends in a curved long claw, which the animal uses for scratching the skin.

The echidna digs the ground in search of food (ants and termites). She collects insects with her unusually long and sticky tongue.

It should be noted that in Australia economic activity Human activity has contributed to a significant decline in the numbers of these amazing animals in recent years.

Habitats of the Australian echidna

From the very name of the animal you can understand where it lives. this type echidnas.

In addition to Australia, the echidna is found in New Guinea, Tasmania, and also on the small islands of Bass Strait. Australian echidnas are able to live in almost any corner of the continent. Their place of residence does not depend on the landscape. Their home can be both dry areas and rain forests; both plains and mountains.

There are some interesting facts related to echidna:

• The echidna is an animal that, at the moment of danger, curls up into a ball, like a hedgehog, while it mainly tries to cover its most vulnerable spot on the body there is an abdomen.
• Tasmanian echidnas do not have very thick short spines, so they do not need scratching claws.
• Echidnas belong to a small group of long-lived mammals, living up to 50 years, which is unusual for such a small animal.
• Like the platypus, this animal is an egg-laying mammal.
• Echidnas, like birds, have one opening for defecation and laying eggs. The female places her egg in a pouch, which disappears after reproduction and is formed during a new clutch. The echidna lays only one egg at a time.
• In female echidnas, milk flows through the pores into a pouch on the front of the pouch, from where the baby licks it.

Nutrition

Echidnas feed on termites, ants, earthworms and other insects, catching them from their hiding places with their long tongue, which can make 100 movements per minute.

Australian marsupial echidna- an animal that sometimes feeds on small animals and insects. It is a carnivorous mammal, but the size of its prey depends on the size of its mouth. Another feature is that the upper jaw of the echidna is connected to the lower, and therefore its oral opening is small. And the tongue can extend up to 18 centimeters.

The echidna sucks insects stuck to its tongue into its mouth. Usually the echidna goes for food at dusk. When it's hot, she goes hunting only at night. Prey is found using its excellent sense of smell. While digging in search of food, the echidna is capable of turning over stones twice as heavy as its own weight.

Lifestyle

The echidna is an animal whose home range size depends on the amount of food on it. In humid forest areas, where there is usually a lot of prey, the territory area per animal is approximately 50 hectares. During the day, the echidna usually rests, hiding under stones, tree roots and in hollows. At night, the search for insects begins, and the echidna leaves its shelter at a certain temperature. IN hot weather she only comes out at night because she is terribly tolerant of excess heat and sunlight. In bright sunlight the animal may even die. It can only be outside the shelter in cold weather.

The echidna doesn't have many enemies. The main danger for her is only a meeting with a person who hunts her for fat.

When in danger, an echidna can burrow into the ground surprisingly quickly, and if the soil is hard, it curls up into a ball. IN winter time The echidna usually hibernates.

Echidnas have poor eyesight, but their hearing is excellent. Moreover, during night forays for food, they mainly rely on their excellent sense of smell.

Conclusion

Oddly enough, like many other natural creatures, the echidna is a totem animal. It patronizes all those born on June 13th.

For those born on this day, the echidna is a protector and a sacred animal that brings good luck.

Echidna- a unique creation of nature. It's really true! The origin of these unique animals has been studied very superficially and many questions about their life are controversial and are still considered open.

• By appearance The echidna looks like a hedgehog or, it also has almost the entire body covered with needles;
• the echidna lays eggs to continue its kind, which in to a greater extent characteristic of birds;
• she carries her offspring in a special bag, just as kangaroos do;
• but she eats in the same way as.
• with all this, echidna cubs feed on milk and belong to the class of mammals.

Therefore, they often talk about the echidna as a “bird beast”. Look at photo of echidna, and much will become clear at just one glance. What kind of special creation is this, who is this viper?

Echidna and platypus belong to one order, which are known as monotremes (single-tremes). In nature, there are 2 varieties of echidna:

• spiny (Tasmanian, Australian)
• woolly (New Guinea)

The surface of the body is covered with needles, the length of which is about 6 centimeters. The color of the needles varies from white to dark brown, so the color of the animal is uneven.

In addition to needles, the echidna has brown fur, which is quite coarse and tough. The coat is especially thick and quite long in the parotid area. In terms of size, the echidna is a small animal, about 40 centimeters.

Pictured is a woolly echidna

The head is small in size and almost immediately merges with the body. The muzzle is long and thin, and it ends in a small mouth - a tube, which is often called a beak. The echidna has a long and sticky tongue, but it has no teeth at all. In general, the beak helps the animal navigate in space, since vision is very poor.

The echidna moves on four legs; they are small in size, but very strong and muscular. She has five toes on each paw, which end in strong claws.

This unique miracle nature, like , can curl up and turn into a prickly ball. If there is some source of danger or threat to life nearby, then the echidna buries itself in the loose soil with half of its body and puts out its needles as protection so that the enemy cannot get close to it.

Often you have to escape from danger and run away, here strong paws come to the rescue, which provide fast movement to a safe shelter. In addition to being a good runner, the echidna can also swim well.

Character and lifestyle of the echidna

Echidna lives in Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania. The life of the echidna was first described by Georg Shaw in 1792, and it was from that time that observation of this animal began. However, echidnas are quite secretive and do not like interference in their lives, which greatly complicates study and research.

Not in vain word“snide” means insidious. Yes and animal echidna insidiously and carefully, does not allow intrusion into his life. Australian echidnas prefer to lead night look life.

They live mainly in forests or areas with dense vegetation, where the animal feels protected under the cover of foliage and plants. The echidna can hide in thickets, tree roots, crevices in rocks, small caves, or in holes that are dug and.

The animal spends the hottest hours of the day in such shelters; with the onset of evening, when the coolness is already well felt, echidnas begin to lead an active life.

However, with the onset of cold weather, the animal’s life seems to slow down and for some time they can go into hibernation, although in general the echidna does not belong to the class of animals sleeping in winter. This behavior of the echidna is associated with the absence of sweat glands, so it does not adapt well to different temperatures.

With a significant change in temperature, the animal becomes lethargic and inactive, sometimes completely inhibiting the process of vital activity. Stock subcutaneous fat provides necessary nutrition to the body for long time, sometimes this can last about 4 months.

The photo shows an echidna in a defensive pose.

Reproduction and lifespan

The breeding period, the so-called mating season, occurs during the Australian winter, which lasts from May to September. At other times, echidnas live alone, but with the onset of winter they gather in small groups, which usually consist of one female and several males (usually there are up to 6 males in one group).

The so-called dating period lasts for about a month, when the animals feed and live together in the same territory. After which the males move on to the stage of courtship of the female. This usually manifests itself by the animals sniffing each other and poking their noses at the tail of the only female representative of their group.

When the female is ready to mate, the males surround her and begin a kind of wedding ritual, which consists of circling and digging a trench about 25 centimeters around the female.

The photo shows an echidna with a tiny egg.

When everything is ready, the battles begin for the title of the most worthy, the males push each other out of the trench. The only one who will defeat everyone and mate with the female.

About 3-4 weeks after mating has occurred, the female is ready to lay an egg. Moreover, the echidna always lays only one egg. The echidna's pouch appears only at this time, and then disappears again.

The egg is the size of a pea and is placed in the mother's pouch. How exactly this process occurs is still debated by scientists. After about 8-12 days, the baby is born, but for the next 50 days from the moment of birth, it will still be in the pouch.

Pictured is a baby echidna

The mother echidna then finds a safe place where she leaves her baby and visits it about once a week to feed it. Thus another 5 months pass. Then the time comes when echidna children ready for independent adult life and no longer needs maternal care and care.

The echidna is capable of reproducing no more often than once every two years, or even less often, but its natural life expectancy is approximately 13-17 years. This is considered a fairly high figure. However, there were cases when echidnas in the zoo lived up to 45 years.

Echidna food

The echidna's diet includes termites, small worms, and sometimes baby fish. To get food, the echidna digs up an anthill or termite mound, rips off the bark of trees where insects hide, moves small stones under which worms can usually be found, or simply combs through it with its nose. forest floor from leaves, moss and small branches.

As soon as the prey is found, business begins long tongue, to which the insect or sticks. To crush prey, the echidna lacks teeth, but it digestive system it is designed in such a way that it has special keratin teeth that rub against the palate.

This is how the process of “chewing” food occurs. In addition, grains of sand, small pebbles and earth enter the echidna’s body, which also help grind food in the animal’s stomach.

The Australian echidna is one of the many species of egg-laying animals belonging to the mammalian 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 similar to the hedgehog, and also shares similar features with the porcupine. Almost the entire surface of the echidna’s body is covered with sharp spines.
• Unlike most animals, the echidna's offspring are born from laid eggs. This phenomenon mainly occurs in birds, but also in some mammals.
• Unlike birds, which hatch their eggs in nests, the Australian echidna carries them in a pouch located in the abdominal cavity, like a kangaroo.
• The animal feeds in the same way as an anteater.
• The hatched offspring feed on mother's milk, as in most mammals.
• According to scientists, we can conclude that the echidna’s nose is equipped with unique cells responsible for capturing electromagnetic pulses. It is thanks to these signals that the animal can track all living creatures around it.

Very often you can find a comparison between the echidna and a bird; it is even often called the “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 fur. The echidna's neck is not visible, so it seems that its small head abruptly turns into a body. The mouth of this cute animal is tube-shaped, inside of which there 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, since The animal's vision is not the best.

The echidna's legs are very muscular, although short. The paws, like many mammals, have five toes. The echidna's claws are long, especially on its hind paw. The longest claw reaches five centimeters. They need it to comb their quills. In addition to the back, the animal has a small tail also covered with spines. The animal itself is squat, deftly digging the ground.

Lifestyle

By nature, the echidna prefers to live alone. The animal very carefully protects 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. From the appearance of the animal you cannot say that it can swim across even a small body of water, but this is not so. Echidna swims beautifully.

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

If the echidna comes face to face with its enemy, it begins to very quickly curl up into a ball, exposing its needles as a defensive weapon. This method is very helpful in saving the life of an 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.

Nutrition

The mainstay of this animal's diet is termites, molluscs and ants. To obtain food, the animal can easily destroy an anthill or peel off the bark of a tree. Due to its muscular paws, the Australian hedgehog can easily move away a large stone and feast on the insects and worms underneath. At the time of feeding, at digestive tract Along with food, small pebbles and earth are supplied, which have a beneficial effect on the process of digesting food.

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

The hunting process mainly takes place at night. During the day, food production is carried out only in cool weather. This is due to the fact that the animal completely lacks the glands responsible for sweat secretion. And the body temperature does not exceed 32 degrees. That is why the Australian animal is very does not tolerate heat well, but neither does cold.

If the temperature is too low, the echidna becomes lethargic and all processes responsible for vital activity are dulled.

It is worth noting that the animal, under unfavorable weather conditions, can go into hibernation, which lasts up to 4 months. At this time, nutrients The body receives it from the fat accumulated over the season.

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

Reproduction

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

During 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 males continues for one month. If the female lies on her back, she shows that she is ready for fertilization.

At this moment, the males begin vigorous activity. They begin to trample a trench 30 centimeters deep around the female. The trench itself is a kind of “battlefield” on which males try to push each other beyond its boundaries. 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 it is, the longer the pregnancy.

Who would have thought, but during pregnancy this mammal forms a special pouch in which females lay leather eggs. The baby, when 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 into the open spaces 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, from a small cub, that an adult is formed, capable of independently obtaining food for itself and living separately from its mother.

Reproduction facts

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

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

There is a creature on earth that is born from an egg, but feeds on its mother’s milk until it grows up. Today - the echidna animal and all the most interesting things connected with it.

"Doppelganger" of a porcupine. Animal echidna

Nature has created a lot unique creatures, which in their appearance do not resemble any other animal. But it turns out that even such an unusual animal as a porcupine has a double in nature. Does anyone else really have the same spiky hair? The name of this “beauty with a spiked hairstyle” is echidna.

Echidnas are mammals. Like platypuses, echidnas belong to the order Monotremes. Today in nature there are only two varieties of this animal: the spiny echidna (this group includes the Australian echidna, Tasmanian echidna and Papuan echidna) and the woolly echidna (lives in the forests of New Guinea).

Appearance of the echidna

As mentioned above, the echidna is very similar in appearance to a porcupine. Its body is also covered with stiff hairs and sharp long needles, the color of which can be white, gray, black or brown.

Only, unlike the porcupine, average length The echidna's body is about 40 - 50 centimeters (but there are larger individuals - up to 55 centimeters). The animal weighs on average 7 kilograms.

The echidna is an interesting animal with a funny face.

The echidna's muzzle looks funny: instead of a nose and lips, it has a long “proboscis” called a beak. The animal has no teeth. The legs are short, but despite this, they are very strong. Thanks to this property, echidnas skillfully dig the soil.

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.

Echidna diet

The main food for this animal is termites, small mollusks, worms and ants. In search of “dinner”, an echidna can dig up an anthill, tear off the bark from trees that once fell and are now a home small insects. In addition, the animal is able to move and even turn over a stone to get food.

The echidna used the “hedgehog” tactic; she covered the least protected parts of the body with her clawed paws
The hunting process occurs in this way: having approached the prey, with the help of its long and sticky tongue, the echidna captures the prey, presses it to the palate in its mouth and crushes it.

Echidna reproduction and breeding of offspring

The echidna is popularly called the bird-beast. But why? This is because the echidna hatches its offspring using eggs and feeds its young with milk. Like this unusual animal.

Three weeks after the mating season, the female echidna lays one egg. This egg has a very soft shell, so she carefully places it in her pouch and carries it for 10 days. And now, ten days later, it is born little cub, but he is not yet ready for adult life in the world wildlife because it is very weak. Therefore, for about fifty more days he lives in his mother’s pouch and eats her milk.

The female produces milk through pores located in the so-called milk fields. There are two such pores, but the echidna does not have nipples by nature. After 50 days, the baby’s needles begin to grow, so caring mother transplants it into a specially dug hole. The female herself goes hunting and comes to the mink once every 4 or 5 days to feed her baby milk. And this happens until the cub is seven months old.

The word “echidna” evokes associations with harmful and unpleasant person who can do something nasty for no reason. But the animal of the same name also lives in nature. It looks very peculiar, resembling the quills of a porcupine, but there are also differences. So, let's take a closer look at the Australian echidna.

General description

According to the classification of echidna refers to class of mammals, phylum chordates. From a distance you can mistake the animal for a porcupine, however, it is a completely different animal. It has extraordinary endurance. The Australian echidna can survive without food for as long as 30 days. They can safely be called long-livers; an age of 50 years is not uncommon for these animals. The echidna feels great when kept in captivity.

During the winter, the animals hibernate, and when they wake up, they molt, shedding not only their old fur, but also their needles. They are loners by nature, and unite in pairs only for the period of breeding offspring. Any echidna guards its territory very zealously. This animal has rather weak eyesight, but its hearing and sense of smell are excellent. However, the animal is able to see a moving object from afar.

External signs

• The size of the animals reaches 40-50 centimeters in length.
• Their entire body is covered with brown fur and long spines.
• The head is small, without a pronounced neck.
• The mouth is elongated into a tube and is like a beak; it almost does not open. At its end there is a small hole from which the echidna sticks out a narrow sticky tongue.
• The surface of the beak is covered with special receptors that detect weak electrical impulses emanating from moving insects, this helps the animal in hunting. Apart from the echidna and the platypus, none living creature no longer has such a location tool.
• The animal has no teeth; they are partly replaced by peculiar spikes protruding from the roof of the mouth.
• The limbs are muscular, each with five fingers with long claws.
• The tail is short and also covered with spines.
• The echidna looks squat and walks slowly and awkwardly.

Gallery: animal echidna (25 photos)

Lifestyle and nutrition

Australian echidnas are nocturnal animals. Their feeding and movement occurs during the cool night hours, and during the heat of the day they hide in the shade and rest. Nature has endowed her with dexterous limbs in order to get her own food without any problems. What does an echidna eat? Tearing the ground with its paws, the animal obtains:

• insect larvae;
• ants,
• termites.

Animals defend themselves by curling up into a ball and putting out their needles. In addition, the male has a separate “weapon”; on his hind legs there are spurs containing poison. Sometimes real fights take place between males in order to find out whose authority is higher. These animals love to preen themselves. Nature even provided them with a special tool - the Australian echidna has a jagged claw on its longest finger, which it uses to clean its skin.

In case of danger, echidna capable of burying itself in the ground in a matter of minutes fully. Her paws are clawed and very strong. An echidna that has clung to the grass cover will be very difficult to tear off. Animals prefer to settle in damp, shady places or on rocky terrain. They are excellent swimmers.

Echidna's special tactics destruction of anthills. She quickly digs a deep tunnel with her paws and sticks her tongue into it, which is immediately attacked by ants. The animal quickly retracts its tongue with the attached insects back into its mouth and swallows the prey. The echidna also looks for food under the bark of trees, turns over reverse side stones. The hunt lasts all night, and by morning the well-fed and tired huntress goes to bed.

Reproduction

Due to the secretive lifestyle of echidnas, their behavior in mating season remains insufficiently studied. Animals breed from late spring to early autumn. It is only known that soon after a pair is formed and the female is fertilized, she reproduces the egg(usually the only one) and places it in its pouch located on the abdomen.

This process involves the abdominal muscles and tail, with which she pushes the egg to the desired location. The Australian echidna is a marsupial, but its pouch is not constantly present, but is formed only during the breeding season in the folds of the abdomen. The egg is only 13-17 mm in size and is covered with a leathery shell on top. After 10 days, a baby echidna is born, which is almost microscopic in size. Its length is about 15 mm and its weight is only 0.5 grams.

Immediately after birth, the baby uses its front paws to move to the milk field - a special area of ​​skin in the pouch from which milk is secreted. The flesh in this place is covered with special hairs, when the cub squeezes them in the mouth, mother's milk flows through them. It is a very nutritious food that contains many vitamins and iron, which gives it its pink color.

While feeding, the newborn begins to grow rapidly and after 2 months already weighs 400 grams. By this age, the cub develops spines, and the time comes to leave the mother’s pouch. After this, the mother hides him in a secret place and comes periodically to feed him. This continues for up to six months, and then the young individual begins to lead an independent life.

These animals reach final maturity at 2-3 years. They reproduce quite rarely. According to some reports, this can happen only once every 7 years, but it happens more often.