Echidna
From LoveToKnow 1911
ECHIDNA, or Porcupine Ant-Eater (Echidna aculeata), one of the few species of Monotremata, the lowest subclass of Mammalia, forming the family Echidnidae.
Echidnas, sometimes also referred to as "spiny anteaters", are the only surviving monotremes apart from the Platypus. The four surviving species, native to New Guinea and Australia, all belong to the Tachyglossidae family.
Echidna Comments (11)
yeye
""Great if your looking for classification"" ...
Echidna
Related Category: Vertebrate Zoology
(kd´n) or spiny anteater, primitive animal of the order Monotremata, the egg-laying mammals.
Echidnas dig into the ground if they are chased.
The echidna belongs to a special group of mammals called monotremes. There are only three monotremes, two of them are echidnas.
Echidnas need bushland to live in.
Echidnas can swim. They don't like the heat.
Echidnas are very unusual mammals because they lay eggs. Mammals that lay eggs are called monotremes.
Echidna
The echidna is best known for its amazing biology. Like the platypus, this unusual mammal lays eggs and suckles its young. The echidna and platypus are the only members of a primitive group of mammals known as monotremes.
Echidnas walk with a distinctive rolling gait, even though the body is held well above the ground, partially due to the fact that their rear feet point backwards which helps with digging.
Echidnas and other monotremes are best known for the way their babies are born -- they hatch from eggs! But how do the babies begin?
Female echidnas develop a temporary pouch on the abdomen during the breeding season, into which a single egg is laid.
*** The echidnas and the duck-billed platypus differ from all other mammals in that they lay shell-covered eggs that are incubated and hatched outside of the body of the mother.
Diet
Echidnas feed on ants and termites. They use their long, sticky tongue (18cm from tip of snout) to collect prey.
The female Echidna lays a single leathery-shelled egg that is incubated in a pouch. It hatches after about 10 days and stays in the pouch until the spines begin to form.
Echidnas
There are two kinds of animals, Long-beaked echidna is hairier and less spiny than the Short-beaked echidna . Besides having regular hair they also have other special hairs on their back and sides that grow into sharp spines.
Echidna nebulosa
Common name: snowflake moray eel
Photo by Mark Rosenstein / Active Window Productions, Inc.
Photo by Mark Rosenstein / Active Window Productions, Inc.
Echidnas' intestines, bladder and reproductive organs all open into a common chamber; the cloaca, an external opening. Both males and females have a cloaca through which feces, urine, and in females, eggs pass.
An echidna building a defensive burrow on French Island
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The Echidna is active in the day time and feeds mostly on insects. The back is covered with spines. Rumor has it that the spines can puncture your car tires. True or not this provides some incentive for drivers to avoid running over one.
Like the echidna, an adult platypus has no teeth. A young platypus will have teeth, but these are lost as it matures. However, the adult will produce a hardened set of pads in its jaws for chewing.
Long-nosed echidnas primarily inhabitate mountain forests, although some live on highly elevated alpine meadows. The species does not live along the coastal plains (Augee, 1993; Walker, 1991).
Terrestrial Biomes:
rainforest ; mountains .
Short-beaked Echidna
Short-beaked Echidna
Short-eared Possum, Trichosurus caninus
Short-eared rock-wallaby Petrogale brachyotis
Shorter jaws with smaller teeth
Shortfin Mako, Isurus oxyrinchus Rafinesque, 1810 ...
It is now known that the platypus, along with the Australasian echidnas (Tachyglossus and Zaglossus), comprise the living members of Monotremata, the egg-laying mammals, all of which have a single, common opening for the reproductive, excretory, ...
There are only three living species in this order - one species of platypus and two species of echidna. This order is highly unusual.
There are only five species of monotreme: the platypus and four species of echidna.
Monotremata - platypus, echidnas
Monotremes lay eggs and they have no teeth! They are only found in Australia and New Guinea. There are two species of monotremes, the platypus and the echidnas or spiny anteaters.
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There are three species of monotremes, the duck-billed platypus (Ornithorhynchus) and two spiny anteaters, or echidnas (Tachyglossus and Zaglossus). These mammals lay eggs; after the babies hatch, the mothers nourish their young with milk.
Platypus reproduction is nearly unique. It is one of only two mammals (the echidna is the other) that lay eggs.
The spiny anteater has a good sense of smell and is also known as the short nosed echidna (which is the more common variety).
Anteaters are the four mammal species of the suborder Vermilingua commonly known for eating ants and termites. The name is also colloquially applied to the aardvark, the numbat, the echidna, and the pangolin.
pet stores often sell pure saltwater varieties of Moray eels as freshwater varieties. It is essential that the aquarist makes sure he is purchasing a freshwater Moray, and not one of its oceanic cousins. Specifically, seek out the species Echidna ...
eye results from convergent evolution—human and cephalopod eyes, although similar in structure and function, arose independently, and not through a common ancestor. For another example of convergent evolution, compare porcupines with echidnas.
This group includes: Monotremes - duckbilled platypus, echidnas, Marsupials - opossums, kangaroos, and Placentals - most other mammals. For more information and additional species, see The Mammals of Texas.
 See also: Kangaroo, Lemur, Beetle, Viper, Penguin
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