Animal Diaries Archive

Back On Dry Land

30 November 2007

As the Humpback Whales head back home to the Antarctic, the mammals department have gained a new addition to their team in the shape of Steve's Whale One's Marine Zoologist.
I'm a true water baby and before joining the zoo crew I worked with all sorts of marine animals from sharks and turtles to seals and polar bears. So, as the whale watching season comes to a close for another year, I've ventured back onto land to work with the 'furries', initially thinking I may be a little out of my element.
However, I soon got to know another couple of water babies, Bonnie and Maria our beautiful Asian Small-clawed Otters and the young platypuses Ted and Trey. But it was another Aussie native (cousin of the platypus), the Short-beaked Echidna that have really captured my heart. Did you know that the Echidna is actually an incredibly good swimmer?!?
So, I've decided to share with you some very interesting facts about these gorgeous creatures in hope that you can understand why I've come to love them and hope you'll pop into the zoo and visit us soon.

The Short-beaked Echidna Tachyglossus acueatus is one of only two egg-laying mammals called monotremes that are endemic to Australia.
Echidna's and Platypus are Australia's monotremes and, like marsupials, have a pouch in which their young develop. A monotreme, however, will actually lay their egg first into this temporary pouch (it only forms during breeding) where the young will hatch after about 10 days.
A new born echidna baby is called a puggle and is born without hair or spines. Once these spines develop however, the mother will eject it from the pouch as it becomes too prickly to carry, and the mother will dig a burrow for the puggle to live in until it is weaned at about 7 months of age.

Found in most habitats of Australia, the Echidna is a very well adapted and versatile animal. It has the widest distribution of any native Australian mammal living in a vast variety of climates and habitats, ranging from coastal forests to alpine meadows and even our interior deserts.

The quills of the echidna are modified hairs made of keratin, which is the same stuff that creates our fingernails.
Although they have spines like the Northern Hemisphere's porcupine there is actually no relationship between the two species. Both have just developed spines as a defence mechanism against potential predators.
When they feel threatened, echidna's will curl themselves into a ball with their soft vulnerable belly and face tucked inside and only their spines sticking out in a massive ball of prickly defence.

Echidna's have no teeth, yet their tongue is amazingly long at up to 17 centimetres and with very sticky saliva, it is perfect for prying all the way into termite mounds to capture the unknowing termites.
The echidna will also feed on ants and other soil invertebrates with a particular taste for beetle larvae and with their remarkably strong claws they are able to break open rotting logs to reveal the insects hiding inside.

If you'd like to see these adorable animals close-up and learn even more about them, our Spiky Little Echidna Animal Encounters allow to you get up close and personal at feeding time with the echidna's and even give their spiky little bottoms a tickle.