Along with the Platypus, Echidnas are monotremes – which are the only mammals that lay eggs.
Did you know a baby echidna is called a puggle? Or that adult echidnas make ‘snuffling’ noises when they hunt for food? There’s a lot to like about the Short-beaked Echidna .
This waddling, well-camouflaged mammal is a very peculiar creature.
While the Short-beaked Echidna is widespread in Australia, Long-beaked Echidnas are no longer present.
Three species of Long-beaked Echidnas and the Short-beaked Echidna are all found in Papua New Guinea.
Short-beaked Echidnas can grow up to 40cm and 7kg, but most are between 2kg and 5kg. Their Latin name means ‘quick tongue’ (Tachyglossus) and ‘spiny’ (aculeatus). There’s good reason why their other common name is the Spiny Ant-eater.
Their snouts are rigid and strong, allowing them to break open logs and termite mounds.
Echidnas slurp up ants and other insects with their sticky, saliva-covered tongues, which can be 17cm long!
Echidnas have a very keen sense of smell, useful in locating mates, detecting danger and snuffling for food.
Their short limbs and shovel-like claws are perfect for digging out food and burrowing in the soil. Males also have a spur on each hind leg though, unlike the Platypus, it’s non-venomous. Instead, they use their hard, sharp spines for protection.
Below these 5cm-long spines, echidnas are covered in short black hair, helping them to live in a wide variety of habitats.
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Where do echidnas live?
Echidnas may be shy and infrequently seen, but they’re found across most of Australia and hold the title of Australia’s most widespread native mammal .
You can find echidnas slowly wandering around most habitats, from deserts to rainforests and alpine mountains.
To survive extremes in weather echidnas burrow into the soil, hide under vegetation and shelter in hollow logs, rock crevices and in burrows created by wombats or rabbits.
Amazingly, echidnas are good swimmers. They’ve been seen crossing rivers and beaches with their snouts in the air like snorkels!
Echidnas are solitary, wanderers: they have large, overlapping home ranges (up to 50 hectares) and only maintain a fixed address when rearing their young in a burrow.
Echidna behaviour
How do you know when echidnas are breeding? Just look for a female being trailed by one to ten males. This can last for weeks at a time.
While it doesn’t sound romantic, the female will eventually mate with the male that, through sheer tenacity, follows her longest!
The female will then lay a single, leathery egg. Only 0.16 cm long, this tiny egg is incubated in her pouch. When the egg is the size of a jellybean, the young echidna – the puggle – hatches from the egg. It’s then carried in the mother’s pouch for about three months, where it suckles on her mammary glands.
The puggle leaves the pouch when it grows spines, at about three months old. Young stay and suckle from the mother until they’re weaned at about six months of age.
What do echidnas eat?
Adult echidnas eat ants and termites, and sometimes feast on earthworms, beetles and moth larvae. Without teeth to chew their prey, they grind food between their tongues and the bottoms of their mouths. Their tongues are so sticky and effective that they accidentally consume a lot of dirt while feeding, which is why their droppings are laced with soil.
Echidnas typically live up to 10 years in the wild, but have been recorded living 49 years in captivity.
Threats to echidnas
The primary threat to echidnas is habitat loss, especially the loss of fallen logs, tree stumps and understorey vegetation. As they move so slowly they’re also vulnerable to being hit by vehicles.
Cats, dingoes and large goannas may eat young or young adults, but generally echidnas don’t have many natural predators.
If threatened, an echidna will curl into a ball (if on hard ground), lodge itself into a log or rock crevice, or quickly dig a shallow excavation, so that only its sharp spines are exposed – a very effective protection strategy.
What’s Bush Heritage doing?
Echidnas occur on most of our reserves. Liffey Valley is home to the Tasmanian subspecies, which has a particularly furry coat to survive the cold. We protect echidna habitat by conserving native vegetation and hollow logs, managing total grazing pressure and controlling feral animals such as cats and wild dogs.
Donate today to help us continue this and other vital conservation work.
