By Nicky Phillips. If you disregard their spikes, male echidnas are lovers not fighters. Sydney researchers have discovered that male echidnas use
the spur on their hind leg
to communicate with their peers, quite unlike their close relative, the platypus, who use their leg spur as a weapon.
Can echidnas hear well?
An echidna does not have ear flaps like we do. Its ears are large, vertical slits just behind its eyes.
It has an amazing sense of hearing
.
Do echidnas have good hearing?
Both male and female echidnas have a pouch on the belly. Echidna can feel vibrations through their noses. An echidna has large, vertical slits just behind its eyes for ears. They also
have extremely good hearing
.
Do echidna spines hurt?
“We’ve seen the spines actually melted down to little nubs on the body.” This might sound particularly painful, but Rismiller says not to worry too much, as it wouldn’t hurt quite as badly as you might imagine. “The
spines are modified hairs
,” she explained. “So, you know, they do grow back.”
What is special about echidnas?
The echidna has
spines like a porcupine, a beak like a bird, a pouch like a kangaroo, and lays eggs like a reptile
. Also known as spiny anteaters, they’re small, solitary mammals native to Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea. They’re usually between 12 and 17 inches long and weigh between 4 and 10 pounds.
Can you pick up an echidna?
Do not try to handle or dig out an echidna
. You may cause unnecessary stress to the animal which could result in injuries to the animal and maybe to you too! Do not pressure the animal to leave as it will just feel threatened and bury itself into the ground.
Are echidnas poisonous?
Echidnas, the other monotremes, have spurs but
no functional venom glands
. Although not potent enough to be lethal to humans, platypus venom is nevertheless so excruciating that victims may sometimes be temporarily incapacitated.
Do echidnas lose their spines?
“We’ve seen a lot of echidnas that have been through fires and have
lost either a lot or only a few spines
,” environmental physiologist Peggy Rismiller from the Pelican Lagoon Research Centre told ScienceAlert. “We’ve seen the spines actually melted down to little nubs on the body.”
How long do echidnas live for?
Of all the mammals in the world, echidnas have the second lowest body temperature (after the platypus), which is good news for their life span – on average, they’ve been known to live for up to 50 years in captivity, and
45 years in the wild
.
Can echidnas survive fire?
Scientists have known for quite some time that echidnas, an egg laying mammal related to the platypus, are
able to survive not just brush fires
, but the aftermath when there is little to no food and sometimes a limited amount of breathable air.
Are echidnas rare?
As mentioned earlier, echidnas
fall into the extremely rare category of monotremes
– quite the anomaly and different to any other mammal as they lay eggs and have no teats.
What does echidna poop look like?
droppings, as well as the markings left after foraging for food. Echidna droppings are about
7 cm long, cylindrical in shape
, with broken, unrounded ends.
How do you tell if an echidna is male or female?
You can’t tell if an echidna is male or female by
simply looking at them as they have no gender-specific features and their reproductive organs are internal
. All echidnas are born with spurs on their hind limbs, similar to what male platypuses have.
Where does an echidna sleep?
Echidnas hibernate during the cold winter months
in burrows
. No matter what the time of the year, they can only enter REM sleep when they are around 77 F (25 C).
Can I keep an echidna as a pet?
Short-beaked echidnas are cute enough that zoos want them and some people want them as household pets. But with their highly specific diet, digging behavior, and potentially long life spans—up to nearly 60 years—they don
‘t make good pets
. It’s not known how many short-beaked echidnas are in the wild.
Can echidnas swim?
An expert says while it’s rare to see,
echidnas are actually good swimmers
. They use their backwards-pointing feet as a natural rudder, and their snout works as a little snorkel.
