Echidna

Echidna, the spiny anteater, is a monotreme that lives in Australia and in New Guinea. They are the living members of the family Tachyglossidae.

Echidna
Short-beaked echidna
Scientific classification
Unrecognized taxon (fix):	Tachyglossidae
Species
Genus Tachyglossus    T. aculeatus Genus Zaglossus    Z. attenboroughi    Z. bruijnii    Z. bartoni    †Z. hacketti    †Z. robustus Genus †Megalibgwilia    †M. ramsayi    †M. robusta

An Echnida looking for food

Echnidas have a long, tube-like mouth with a sticky tongue. They are also covered in spines. They have mammary glands, and lay eggs.

The echidna has a method of protecting itself. With its long, sharp claws, they quickly dig a hole until only their spines are showing when they are hiding in the hole. The predator is not be able to get it without injuring itself on the spines. When there is a fire, the echidna digs down out of reach of the fire.

Prey

The short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus) eats termites and ants. The three Zaglossus species also eat other small insects and grubs. Echidnas pick up the prey with their sticky tongues. There is a separate page for Zaglossus.

Species

• Family Tachyglossidae
  • Genus Tachyglossus
    • Tachyglossus aculeatus
  • Genus Zaglossus
    • Zaglossus attenboroughi
    • Zaglossus bartoni
    • Zaglossus bruijni

Echidna Media

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  Spines of the echidna

• A short-beaked echidna building a defensive burrow in French Island National Park (43 seconds)

• 

  Short-beaked echidna skeleton

• 

  The Western long-beaked echidna, which is endemic to New Guinea

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  A short-beaked echidna curled into a ball; the snout is visible on the right

Other websites

• Echidna Archived 2011-05-20 at the Wayback Machine