Forest Floor

The echidna, the short-beaked echidna and the platypus are the only members of the monotreme family, which are mammals that lay eggs and produce milk for their young. Echidnas (pronounced "E-kid-na"), sometimes referred to as spiny anteaters, resemble the hedgehog and the porcupine in that they are covered by sharp spines. The echidna is found all over Australia and can survive a range of temperatures and habitats. Though mostly nocturnal, in mild weather it can be seen during the day, but if the weather is extreme (either very cold or hot), it will stay in shelter (under rocks, fallen timber or burying itself in the ground).

DESCRIPTION
An echidna's body is covered with 2 types of hair. A "normal" short coarse hair to keep it warm, and long sharp spines, each being a single hair but hard (similar to our fingernails in composition). The coloring and length of their "normal" hair differs wildly across Australia depending on climate and habitat. In size Echidnas are 35-45 cms long and weigh 2-7 kg.

The echidna has a pointy snout and an extremely long sticky tongue to catch ants and termites.  The echidna's feet have sharp claws for digging, and though like the platypus the male has a spur on its ankle, it is not poisonous. They make a sniffing noise as they search for food.

HABITAT & LOCATION

The Echidna's main requirement is a large supply of ants and termites. Echidnas are found all over Australia from the highlands to deserts to forests. It has no fixed home except when the female is suckling its young. Echidnas can be found in a variety of shelters from rocks to fallen wood, small caves, or even under bushes.

DEFENSE

There are normally three options for an Echidna when it feels threatened:
1) Run away on its short stubby legs when on a hard surface such as a road or rocks.
2) Curl itself into a ball protecting its softer underbelly, and only showing sharp spines to its threat.

3) Burrow straight down below the surface of the soil showing only its spines along its back, and holding on below the surface with its claws, thus resisting being pulled out of the ground.

FEEDING

Normally the echidna feeds at night on ants or termites.

Its nose is sensitive to electrical signals from an insect body; thus, it searches and "sniffs" out ant and termite nests. The echidna then normally tear into the mound or nest with its sharp claws (front feet) and its snout, exposing the ants or termites. It then catches them with its fast flicking sticky tongue. Because it has no teeth, the echidna crushes the insects between horny pads in its mouth.

BREEDING
The female echidna develops a pouch at the start of the mating season, which occurs in July and August. Three weeks or so after mating, the female digs a burrow and lays one soft leather-like egg into this pouch. It takes 10 days for an echidna egg to hatch.
The young blind, hairless echidna attaches itself to a milk patch on its mothers skin inside the pouch and suckles for the next 8 to 12 weeks. Once spines develop on the young Echidna, it is "evicted" from the pouch but stays in the burrow. The female echidna comes back and regularly lets the young echidna suckle. This occurs for the next 6 months.


THREATS
Man and especially the motor car kill hundreds every year on roads. Echidnas are also threatened by goannas, which eat young echidnas.  Dingoes, foxes, cats and dogs are also responsible for deaths.  Lastly, as with most Australian animals, bushfires and droughts are a natural enemy.

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