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Echidna, any of four species of peculiar egg-laying mammals from Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea that eat and breathe through a bald tubular beak protruding from a dome-shaped body covered in spines. They have beady eyes and mere slits for ears, and at the end of their beaks are two small nostrils and a tiny mouth.
The female lays a single soft-shelled, leathery egg 22 days after mating, and deposits it directly into her pouch. An egg weighs 1.5 to 2 grams (0.05 to 0.07 oz) and is about 1.4 centimetres (0.55 in) long. While hatching, the baby echidna opens the leather shell with a reptile-like egg tooth.
Echidnas, often known as spiny anteaters, are extraordinary creatures that intrigue biologists and animal lovers alike. As one of the only two mammals known to lay eggs, echidnas share this distinctive trait with the platypus, marking them as evolutionary marvels.
An adult female echidna usually lays a single, leathery egg once a year. She rolls the newly laid egg, about the size of a grape, into a deep pocket, or pouch, on her belly to keep it safe. Ten days later, the baby echidna, called a puggle, hatches. It is smaller than a jelly bean!
echidna , or spiny anteater, any of three species of egg-laying mammals (monotremes) of the family Tachyglossidae. Echidnas are stocky and virtually tailless. They have strong-clawed feet and spines on the upper part of the brownish body.
May 17, 2015 · They have fur (their spines are actually stiff hairs), they are warm-blooded, and they produce milk for their young. But what about the eggs? This is what makes echidnas special. They are monotremes: egg-laying mammals. The only other egg-laying mammal is the platypus.
Nov 10, 2008 · Unusually, the Echidna not only lays eggs like a reptile, but they also have a pouch like a kangaroo, protective spikes like a porcupine (though not hollow like a porcupine) a snout like an anteater, and a spiky tongue for extracting hard to-reach-food. With the lowest body temperature of any mammal and slow metabolism, echidnas can live up to ...
