Echidna

Tonight I am doing this blog like a little school project. I am embracing my inner 12 year old.

It is about the Echidna:

Echidnas (/ɪˈkɪdnəz/) (and I have included the phonetic pronunciation for the benefit of those who don’t know how to pronounce the word ‘echidna’) are quill covered Australian animals.

They are sometimes known as ‘spiny anteaters’.

They belong to the family Tachyglossidae… in the monotreme order of egg-laying mammals…they lay eggs and then lactate - feeding the offspring via milk patches in the pouch area, where fine pores secrete the milk onto specialized hair follicles. The female echidna does not possess nipples or teats to feed her young.

‘Puggles’ are what the babies are called and they are super cute. I have never seen one in the wild but I sure would like to. Apparently the gestation period is only about 3 weeks so the reproductive turn around time is very quick. The female lays the egg into her own pouch where it hatches and remains until old enough to subsist without help.

Puggle (from Wildcare Australia webpage)

The male echidna has a four-headed penis. I did not know that! Nor did I expect it. When mating he flattens down two of the heads (saving them for another female) and inserts into the two branched reproductive tract of the female. Both barrels!

They do not shoot their quills. I am not sure why anyone would think that this is something that they do but apparently this is something that the porcupine does. But they are not porcupines.

They have no teeth. They do have a long sticky tongue with which they eat ants and other insects. They forage in the bush and evidence of their activities can be seen in the disruption of ant’s nests where they will dig looking for a meal.

They are (apparently) pretty smart. And friendly. Although whenever I have met one they don’t seem all that friendly. They tend to start burrowing into the ground double-fast in a fairly unfriendly sort of way. But at least they do not attack!

Echidnas are solitary creatures who sometimes hang out with a little gang and wander nose to tail forming what is known as an ‘echidna train’. I understand that the female leads the train with her male suitors following behind. (That sounds divine!!!! doesn’t it girls???) I saw one of these one day. They were heading out of the bush and under the road via a big concrete pipe. It was most unexpected. I had no idea what was going on!!!!

To my absolute delight I once found a little hive of echidnas in one of my sheds. They were all hunkered down up the back in the dark. I think that they were hibernating but then they realised it wasn’t all that quiet around the shed (chooks and dogs and such). They moved out after a week or two. I was sad that they had moved on.

Now, every now and then, the canine crew and I run into an echidna on our travels. Sometimes I see one trundling past the back of the house up the hill. I expect that they know that I live here and that I am echidna-friendly. The dogs don’t really understand the echidna. Whenever they have met one it is just a ball of very sharp quills and is to be avoided.

Echidnas are very interesting and I give them a 9/10.

Here are the references for the factual information above - https://www.environment.sa.gov.au/goodliving/posts/2019/01/echidna-facts#:~:text=5.,leathery%20egg%20into%20her%20pouch.

https://wildcare.org.au/species-information/echidnas/#:~:text=The%20female%20echidna%20does%20not,milk%20onto%20specialized%20hair%20follicles.