Echidnas, sometimes called spiny anteaters, are one of only two living groups of egg-laying mammals on Earth. Found across Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea, these spiky, shy foragers spend their nights hunting ants and termites with a remarkably long, sticky tongue.
Despite their prickly appearance, echidnas are gentle, solitary animals with some truly bizarre biology. Here are the facts worth knowing about them.
Echidnas and platypuses are the only living monotremes — mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young.
Echidnas are covered in sharp, hollow spines (modified hairs) that serve as their main defense; when threatened, they curl into a ball or dig straight down to protect their soft underside.
A female echidna lays a single soft-shelled egg and carries it in a temporary pouch for about 10 days until it hatches into a baby echidna called a puggle.
In the wild, echidnas typically live 14 to 16 years, but in captivity they can live 45 years or more — the longest-documented echidna reached 49.5 years old at the Philadelphia Zoo.
Echidnas have no teeth as adults; they crush ants and termites between spines on the back of the tongue and the roof of the mouth.
An echidna's tongue can extend up to about 18 centimeters (7 inches) out of its snout and flicks in and out over a hundred times a minute to snap up insects.
Male echidnas have a highly unusual four-headed penis; only two of the four heads are used during any single mating, and the pair used alternates each time.
During the July–August breeding season, several males may follow one female in a so-called 'mating train' that can last for weeks.
Echidnas are solitary animals that mostly come together only to breed, otherwise foraging and resting alone.
Echidnas are powerful diggers, using their strong, curved claws to dig burrows for shelter and to break into ant nests and rotting logs for food.
Echidnas are most active at dawn, dusk, or overnight in warm weather, but can shift to daytime activity in cooler climates.
Echidnas have a naturally low body temperature and slow metabolism, and can enter torpor — a deep, energy-saving sleep-like state — during cold weather or food shortages.
Echidnas are not closely related to hedgehogs; the resemblance is a case of convergent evolution, since hedgehogs are placental mammals while echidnas are monotremes.
Echidnas can swim and are capable of crossing rivers and even swimming in the ocean, using their snout as a snorkel.
The short-beaked echidna is classified as Least Concern by the IUCN, though habitat loss, vehicle strikes, and introduced predators still threaten local populations.
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