The short-beaked echidna is not listed as endangered. The short-beaked echidna is the smaller of the species, and individuals vary in colour depending on their location. In the northern, hotter regions, echidnas are light brown, but they become darker with thicker hair further south. In Tasmania, they are black. All echidnas have sharp spines covering the back of their short, stocky bodies. The short-beaked echidna's snout is between 7 and 8cm long, and is stiffened to enable the animal to break up logs and termite mounds when searching for food.
An echidna's mouth is on the underside of its snout, at the end. This allows the animal to feed easily - especially when suckling.
Adult echidnas vary in size, from 35 to 53cm. Males weigh about 6 kilograms, while females weigh about 4. The short, stout limbs of an echidna are well-suited for scratching and digging in the soil. The front feet have five flattened claws which are used to dig forest litter, burrow, and tear open logs and termite mounds. The hind feet point backwards, and help to push soil away when the animal is burrowing. Two of the claws on each back foot are used for grooming.
An echidna's tail is short, stubby and hairless underneath. The echidna looks fearsome enough, but it is a shy animal and would rather retreat than fight if disturbed. When frightened it will curl into a ball, with its snout and legs tucked beneath it and its sharp spines sticking out.
It will wedge itself beneath rocks, or burrow straight down into soft soil, to escape predators such as dogs, eagles and dingos. Like the platypus, the male echidna has a hollow spur on its back leg. While a male platypus can use this spur to inject poision into would-be attackers, echidnas do not have this ability. They are Australia's most widespread native mammal, being found in almost all habitats, from snow covered mountains to deserts.
They are also common in urban areas, although their camouflage can make them very difficult to see. Echidnas are usually found among rocks, in hollow logs and in holes among tree roots. During rainy or windy weather they often burrow into the soil or shelter under bushes and tussocks of grass. For most of the year echidnas are solitary animals, although each animal's territory is large and often overlaps with that of other echidnas. During the breeding season they probably use their fine sense of smell to locate one another.
With a keen sense of smell, an echidna uses its long, hairless snout to search for food, detect danger and locate other echidnas.
Attempts to reach Gunalen for information about his breeding program were unsuccessful. Attempts to establish how many, if any, short-beaked echidnas are bred in and traded from Papua New Guinea were unsuccessful. Determining if a short-beaked echidna is from the wild—and therefore illegal—is difficult to do at ports of entry, as this UN World Wildlife Crime Report notes, and enforcement is less likely in source countries than at entry points in importing countries.
Authorities test for parasites, which differ between wild and captive animals, but that indicator is imperfect because animals kept together may share the same parasites. She and her colleagues are working on such a solution. With time, quills fall out naturally or may become loose and can be extracted painlessly.
Using high-resolution X-ray fluorescence, the researchers scanned quills and sorted the results into captive-bred and wild-caught signatures. They now need funding so they can produce a prototype hand-held device for law enforcement officers to try out.
Meanwhile, Alexandra Summerell has developed a lab test that uses mitochondrial DNA obtained from the root of short-beaked echidna quills to determine whether an animal originated in, say, New Guinea or Australia. She has validated the test to ensure its consistency, making it acceptable as evidence in court cases. Summerell says her research results suggest that the test will also be able to pinpoint the particular region an echidna came from. The next step will be to use findings about the pedigree of short-beaked echidnas to assess relationships among individuals and to tell if echidnas have come from the same breeder.
Summerell wants to extend the test to determine the provenance of critically endangered Western long-beaked echidnas , one of which was found recently during an animal seizure in the Philippines.
Importing countries must be more stringent in enforcing regulations and controls. The U. That would be the responsible thing to do. Additionally, Shepherd says, importers and buyers of short-beaked echidnas should educate themselves about wildlife laundering and illegal sourcing before they acquire them.
Short-beaked echidnas are not endangered now, but taking animals from the wild could lead to that. All rights reserved. They have overlapping home ranges, which vary greatly in size. The short-beaked echidna is classed as a myrmecophage ant and termite specialist ; however, they will also eat larvae of other invertebrates such as the Scarab beetle Scarabaeidae , as well as other adult beetles and earthworms.
The tongue can dart out and reach up to 18cm to catch its prey, with the help of its very sticky saliva. To find its food the echidna is extremely reliant upon its snout.
It will use its powerful forearms and claws to rip open logs and ant mounds to reach its content. The spines are generally straw-coloured with black tips, and are both strong and sharp.
The purpose of the spines is purely for defence. Echidnas in colder climates have less spines and thicker fur. Adult short-beaked echidnas can weigh anywhere between 2 and 7kgs. Neither the size nor weight of an echidna is a useful indicator of age, maturity or gender. It is therefore very difficult to tell if an echidna is a male or female unless an experienced veterinarian conducts an ultrasound, or there is obvious evidence of the sex such as the presence of a baby.
It is believed that female echidnas become sexually active at around 5 years of age and normally have their first baby called a puggle at 6 or 7 years of age. Echidnas will often blow clear bubbles from their nostrils, which is perfectly normal. This is their way of blowing dirt from their nose, which can accumulate while they dig for food. Bubbles that are tinged with blood are however not normal and indicates trauma requiring immediate care. The male who endures the courtship period, and remains closest to the female, may be the lucky one and have a chance to breed once the female is receptive.
Echidnas are monotremes which means that they lay an egg instead of giving birth to live young. Their strong claws help them break open logs to get to termites that they scoop up with their long tongues, which can reach up to 7 inches 18 cm long when extended.
Echidnas typically breed between July and August. Mating for echidnas is quite unusual. Males have four-headed penises and the females have a two-branch reproductive tract. Only two of the heads are active at a time. It is thought that the four heads help males produce more sperm and enables them to become more competitive against other males.
Sometimes, during hibernation, a male will come into a female's burrow and mate with her while she sleeps. She may wake up pregnant and not even know how she got that way, according to National Geographic.
A female usually lays one egg at a time. The egg goes into a pouch on her stomach to incubate. After seven to 10 days, the egg is ready to hatch, according to the Animal Diversity Web. When it hatches, a baby echidna, called a puggle, is about half an inch 12 millimeters long and weighs 0.
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