The Tasmanian Echidna
Seriously, where do you start when you decide to write a little something about this absolutely fascinating creature? Often sighted in the Freycinet National Park, either in the low lying scrub, open bushland or more often than not, beside one of the busy roads, these curious locals will always grab your attention! They are not overly shy and will continue about their business, usually eating ants, while eager tourists quietly crowd around to get a closer look. If they do feel threatened they may shake their spines, retreat to a safer, more sheltered location or rapidly bury themselves where they are, protecting all their soft underside, legs and face, leaving only their spiny back exposed. If they are particularly threatened and on a hard surface, they may roll themselves into a ball for protection. An echidnas’ spines are actually modified hairs but don’t try to give them a pat, they are still sharp!
While they look like spiny anteaters and hedgehogs they are not related to either. They are in fact very different because did you know they also lay eggs? The echidna, like the platypus is a monotreme, mammals that lay eggs. There are only 5 types of monotremes in the world (4 species of echidna and one platypus!). It gets more interesting and a little weird from here though because the eggs are actually laid into a backward facing pouch, but this pouch does not mean the echidna is marsupial. It’s a temporary pouch which the mother makes in the fold of her abdominal skin. The young hatch in the pouch after about 10 days. Here they suckle their mothers’ milk, not from nipples, but from moist patches on the skin of the mothers’ abdomen. During this time, the female echidna spends most of her time in a burrow. The young remain in the pouch until they are 2-3 months old by which time their spines have grown. Ouch! Once outside the pouch they will continue to suckle for another 3 months or so and will gain independence at around 12 months of age.
Echidnas are solitary for most of the year, wandering about, foraging for ants, termites and other crunchy invertebrates. They tend also to consume a lot of soil and ant nest material. They are, surprisingly, remarkably good swimmers and are often spotted waddling across sandy beaches to take a refreshing dip in the ocean. Although careful grooming between their spines is possible with their long claws, echidnas are often infested by the worlds’ largest flea so a swim can often provide some extra relief.
So there you have it. The echidna. But the weirdness of its story is not complete. So far we have dealt with mum and the kids but what about dad? Male echidnas apparently have a four headed penis and travel in mating trains with other males during the mating season. They follow the single female, nose to tail and when she is ready to mate she digs a trench. The males then compete for mating honours, wrestling each other out of the trench. Male echidnas have also been known to mate with hibernating females meaning some females wake up from hibernation already pregnant!
Other fast facts, echidnas have no teeth but fast tongues! Their eyesight isn’t great but is compensated by between 400 and 2000 electroceptors on its snout. The echidna has a very large brain compared to its body size. It has the lowest body temperature of all mammals at 32 degrees Celsius and its body temperature can fluctuate by up to 6 or 8 degrees during the day. They have a slow metabolism and have been known to live up to 45 years of age.
So we have a creature with monstrous spines, a serpent like tongue; a warm blooded mammal that lays eggs? So you may ask yourself, why the name echidna? The name echidna has its origins in Greek Mythology which describes echidna as a ‘fearsome monster, a guardian, a goddess and mother of all monsters’. Echidna was half woman and half serpent. She lived in a deep cave, fed on raw flesh and presided over rot, slime, illness and disease. Perhaps a harsh correlation to make considering echidnas are relatively friendly, unless you are an ant, and they go about their business without bothering anyone else. They are actually quite cute and always a pleasure to observe when you happen to come across them, but give them space because those spines are monstrous!