Echidna is an animal that resembles a porcupine in appearance, lays eggs like a bird, carries a cub in a bag, like a kangaroo, and eats like an anteater. Together with the platypus, this animal belongs to mammals that lay eggs.
Habitat
Echidna (animal), whose habitat is distributed only to Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea, can live in captivity. It adapts well to any environment, so today it can be found not only in the original environment, but also around the world.
Appearance
The echidna animal, the photo of which is presented, has a length of about 40 centimeters. Her back is covered with wool and needles. The head is relatively small immediately goes into the body. The mouth is presented in the form of a tube-shaped beak, in a small hole of which is a long sticky tongue. The beak is the main body for orientation on the ground, since vision is very poorly developed.
The animal moves on four short five-fingered legs, which are distinguished by their muscularity. There are long claws on the fingers, and a five-centimeter claw grows on the hind paw, with which the individual combs its needles. A short tail is also covered with needles.
The echidna (animal), the description of which is presented, is a squat, prickly small mammal, it very cleverly digs the earth and has a long tube-shaped beak.
Way of life
In the subtropic zone (Australia), echidnas are more active in summer nights. In the daytime during the hottest hours, they are placed in the shade and rest. With the onset of darkness, animals feel cool and leave their shelters.
In the cold regions of the continent, the onset of frost. In this case, the echidna inhibits their vital activity before the onset of heat. Animals do not belong to species that hibernate. But in the winter they can still fall asleep for a certain time.
They usually lead a nocturnal or twilight lifestyle. In the afternoon, they hide in cool places. Such shelters can be natural depressions in the soil, hollow trees, bushes.
Echidna is an animal that has fantastic dexterity. This helps him dig the ground and get his own food.
Nutrition
The main food for the animal is ants. With their beak, echidna skillfully dig the earth and get insects from termite mounds and anthills.
When the animal discovers an anthill, it immediately begins to dig it with sharp claws. Work does not stop until a deep tunnel erupts until the destruction of the solid outer layer of the structure.
A long tongue is thrust into the tunnel, the echidna (animal), which many biting ants are pressing on. It remains only to quickly return the tongue to the mouth with food. In addition to ants, land, sand, and tree bark enter the digestive system.
Such nutrition is very important for a mammal that lives in arid zones. With ants, echidna receives 70% moisture. Anteaters and armadillos survive in the same way.
If there is enough food in the mammalian environment, they do not change it. If necessary, they can go several kilometers.
Breeding
In ordinary life, the echidna is a solitary animal. Communication with other individuals occurs only during the mating season. In order to find each other, they use special paths that are marked with a specific smell.
Behavior during the mating period is not fully understood. It is only known that after fertilization, the female produces an egg no more than 15 millimeters in diameter. Then she puts it in a bag with the help of a tail and a peritoneum. Scientists are not aware of cases of laying two or more eggs, but it is also impossible to talk about the rule of one egg.
Echidna is a marsupial animal. A female bag is not considered a permanent organ, like a kangaroo. It appears as a result of the tension of certain muscles. Moreover, if you give the female a sedative, this organ will disappear in a matter of minutes.
From the egg in the bag appears cub, the size of 12 millimeters. He is not adapted to independent life: covered with primary skin, blind, eats mother’s milk. He lives in a bag until he begins to weigh about 400 grams.
Further, the female hides the cub in a hole or in a bush. A day later, she visits him for feeding. This age is considered the most dangerous for the animal, since it is still defenseless.
Method for feeding the echidna cub
Being in the bag, the cub does not leave it until the mother decides to pull it out. He feeds on her milk, which has a pinkish color and a very thick consistency. This is similar to a nutritious mixture of rabbits and dolphins.
Milk enters the bag through numerous openings from special glands. The kid licks it. The nutritional qualities of the mixture allow you not to adhere to a strict schedule in feeding. This is important when the mother pulls the cub out of the bag and hides it in the shelter.
Protection methods
The main means of protection are a shield with needles and claws. The animal has no natural enemies known to scientists . But there are cases when dingo dogs attacked echidnas and ate them together with a shield of needles. Once a dead python was discovered with a stuck, prickly animal in it.
When danger is felt, the echidna (the cautious animal) very quickly begins to dig the earth around itself and hides in a hole in minutes, leaving only its needles in sight. Being on a hard surface, it folds into a ball, hiding its face and beak. The last resort is a fetid liquid, released in the event of a serious danger to someone who has decided to bother him.