# short-beaked echidna (*Tachyglossus aculeatus*) The short-beaked echidna is a spiky mammal that loves to dig! It has a long tongue to catch ants and termites, and it lays eggs like a bird, which is very special for a mammal. - **Category:** [Mammals](https://www.snappit.app/explore/categories/mammal) - **Rarity:** Common - **Danger:** 2/5 · Low - **Habitat:** Grasslands - **Also known as:** Spiny Anteater ![short-beaked echidna](https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Redirect/file/Wild_shortbeak_echidna.jpg&width=800) Photo: User:Fir0002, GFDL 1.2 · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wild_shortbeak_echidna.jpg) ## Appearance The short-beaked echidna has a stocky, rounded body covered in coarse brownish-black fur and sharp, cream-colored spines. Its distinctive long, slender, tube-like snout, often called a 'beak,' is pale pink at the tip and contrasts with its dark fur. ## Taxonomy - **Kingdom:** Animalia - **Phylum:** Chordata - **Class:** Mammalia - **Order:** Monotremata - **Family:** Tachyglossidae - **Genus:** Tachyglossus ## Short-beaked echidna, up close The short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) is a spiny, ant-eating mammal from Australia and New Guinea. It is a monotreme: one of the only mammals that lay eggs, together with the platypus and three long-beaked echidnas. A female lays one soft egg straight into a pouch on her belly, and the tiny baby, called a puggle, licks milk from patches of skin because echidnas have no nipples. Cream spines with dark tips cover its back, and it has no teeth. Instead it digs into ant and termite nests and flicks out a long, sticky tongue. The tip of its beak can even sense weak electric fields. It is Australia’s most widespread native mammal. Also called: Short-nosed echidna, Spiny anteater. A mammal that lays eggs, carries them in a pouch and feeds its baby milk without nipples. It has spines, no teeth, a fast sticky tongue and electric sensors in its beak. Spin it, tap it, then test yourself. ### Special abilities - **Egg-Laying Mammal** (1 egg laid straight into the pouch): Echidnas are mammals, with fur and milk, but they lay eggs. A female lays one soft, leathery egg straight into the pouch on her belly and carries it with her while it develops. [13][5][3][24] - Echidnas and platypuses are the only egg-laying mammals alive today. Scientists call them monotremes. - The egg is laid about three weeks after mating. It is 13–17 mm across, roughly the size of a grape. - It hatches after only 10–11 days in the pouch. - Most other mammals, including hedgehogs and people, give birth to live babies instead. - **Milk Without Nipples** (≈0.3 g puggle at hatching): A newly hatched echidna, called a puggle, is smaller than a jellybean. Its mother has no nipples, so milk seeps out of patches of skin inside the pouch and the puggle laps it up. [5][3][2][1] - A puggle is about 13–15 mm long when it hatches and weighs about 0.3 g. - Each milk patch has about 100–150 tiny pores. The puggle clings to hairs inside the pouch while it feeds. - After about 45–55 days its spines start to grow and it is too prickly for the pouch. Its mother leaves it in a nursery burrow. - She comes back only every 5–10 days to feed it, then leaves again. Young echidnas are weaned at about 4½–7 months. - **Electric Beak** (≈400 electric sensors in the beak tip): The tip of an echidna’s beak can sense weak electric fields, like those given off by moving animals. Among mammals this sense is very rare. Its egg-laying cousin, the platypus, has it too. [9][10][11][4] - In 1989, scientists recorded nerve signals from sensors in the snout tip. It was the first electric sense found in an animal that lives on land. - A trained echidna learned to pick the one water trough of two with a weak electric field across it. It noticed fields as weak as 1.8 millivolts per centimetre. - Its sensors are few. Estimates range from about 100 to about 400, against about 40,000 in a platypus bill. - The sensors were tested with the snout in water, and they may help in damp soil. Nobody has yet shown how much echidnas use them to find food. - Electric sensors (approximate): Short-beaked echidna ≈400; Long-beaked echidna ≈2,000; Platypus ≈40,000 - **Nose to the Ground** (≤20 cm deep feeding holes; still debated): An echidna shuffles along with its beak down, poking it into leaf litter, soft soil and rotten wood. When it finds an ant or termite nest, it digs in. Exactly which senses lead it there is still being worked out. [10][3][25] - Its beak tip is packed with touch sensors, and scientists believe smell helps it find food too. - The electric sensors may help in damp soil, but this has not been proven during normal feeding. - Feeding leaves cone-shaped holes up to about 20 cm deep, or tunnels into termite mounds and ant nests. - Echidna scats are long and cylindrical and full of soil and bits of ants and termites, a clue to what it has been eating. - **Fast, Sticky Tongue** (up to 18 cm tongue reach): Out of its tiny mouth an echidna flicks a long, thin, sticky tongue into the tunnels of an ant or termite nest. The insects stick to it and are pulled back in. [6][13][3] - The tongue can stretch up to about 18 cm and shoot in and out more than 100 times a minute. - Its scientific name, Tachyglossus, means ‘fast tongue’. - With no teeth, it mashes its food between hard spines on the back of the tongue and the roof of its mouth. - Ants and termites are its main food, but it also eats beetle larvae and worms. - **Power Digger** (≈204 m³ soil one echidna could turn over in a year): Echidnas are strong diggers. They break into ant nests, termite mounds and rotten logs to feed, and dig burrows to shelter in. All that digging churns up a lot of soil. [14][7][25] - In one study, wild echidnas wore tiny GPS and motion loggers on their backs. They spent about 12% of their time digging. - From that, the scientists worked out that one echidna could move up to about 204 cubic metres of soil a year. - Turning soil over like this is called bioturbation. It helps keep the ecosystem healthy. - Digging bouts are short, usually less than 10 minutes at a time. - **Spiny Shield** (up to 5 cm spines): Instead of running away, an echidna usually hunches down and digs into the ground until only its spines show, or curls into a spiky ball. A predator is left facing a wall of points. [7][1][2][3] - On soft ground it digs straight down and covers itself with soil, leaving only its spiny back showing. - On hard ground it may wedge itself into a crack between rocks or under a log with its spines jammed out. - If it is rolled onto its back, it curls into a ball of spines to protect its soft, furry belly. - It is not perfect: foxes, cats, dogs, dingoes and goannas still catch echidnas, mostly young ones. - **Cool Customer** (4.5 °C lowest body temperature recorded): An echidna’s body runs cool, about 30–32 °C when active. In cold places it hibernates for months: its body cools to within about 1 °C of the soil around it, which saves a lot of energy. [4][7][16][17][18][15] - Echidnas in hibernation usually keep their bodies at about 8–10 °C. The lowest recorded is 4.5 °C. - The heart can slow to about 4 beats a minute, compared with 50–68 at rest. - In Tasmania, echidnas hibernate for 3.5–7 months a year. Males wake up first and look for females to mate with, even while the females are still hibernating. - In a 2016 study of a controlled burn, echidnas stayed inactive for days afterwards and let their bodies cool, saving energy in the burnt landscape. All but one of the tracked echidnas survived the fire. - Echidna heartbeats per minute: Hibernating ≈4; Resting 50–68; Active 135–145 ### Body parts - **Spiny coat** (up to 5 cm long spines) [3][4][13] - Each spine is a thick, stiff hair made mostly of keratin, the same stuff as your fingernails. - Spines grow only on the back and sides, never on the belly. Dark fur grows between them. - Each spine has a long root anchored in a layer of muscle. Unlike porcupine quills, the spines do not come loose when the echidna defends itself. - **Tube-shaped beak** (6–7.5 cm long) [4][25] - The beak, or snout, is a long, bare, leathery tube. The nostrils and the mouth are both right at the tip. - An echidna pushes it into soft soil, leaf litter and rotten wood and twists it in a corkscrew action to turn the ground over. - It is not a bird’s beak: it is the echidna’s nose and jaws, covered in skin. - **Electric beak tip** (≈400 electric sensors) [4][9][10][11] - The tip of the beak has tiny sensors that pick up weak electric fields. Each one sits at the opening of a special mucus gland in the skin. - Counts differ between studies: from about 100 to about 400 sensors, all in the very tip. A platypus has about 40,000 in its bill. - Tiny bumps called push rods in the same skin are touch sensors. - **Tiny, toothless mouth** (≈5 mm widest gape) [4][6][13] - The mouth opens only about 5 mm, narrower than a pencil. Only small prey fits in. - Echidnas have no teeth. Hard keratin spines at the back of the tongue grind food against the roof of the mouth. - **Small eyes** (≈9 mm across) [4] - Each eye is only about 9 mm across, about the size of a pea. - They sit low on the head, just behind the base of the beak. - **Hidden ears** [4][3] - There are no ear flaps. Each ear is a small, upright slit hidden in the fur behind the eye. - Some scientists think echidnas might hear insects moving underground, but that has not been tested. - **Digging front feet** [25][4] - Short, strong front legs stick out to the sides and end in broad feet with flat, spade-like claws. - In tracks, the front feet turn inwards. - The front claws rip open ant nests and termite mounds and shovel soil away. - **Backwards back feet** [4][13][25] - The bones of the hind legs are rotated, so the back feet point backwards. - The back claws are long and curved. A long grooming claw combs dirt out from between the spines. - In sand, the long back claws often leave a drag mark between the footprints. - **Temporary pouch** [3][5][26] - A female grows a small pouch on her belly only when she is about to breed. It opens backwards. - She lays her single egg straight into it, and the baby hatches and grows there. - When the baby’s spines start to grow, it has to leave the pouch. ### Stats | Stat | Value | Notes | |---|---|---| | Weight | 2–7 kg | adults; body weight can change by up to 35% over a year; About as heavy as a pet cat [1][4] | | Length | 30–45 cm | head and body; the beak adds another 6–7.5 cm [1][4] | | Spines | up to 5 cm | stiff hairs of keratin on the back and sides [3][4] | | Tongue | up to 18 cm | flicked in and out more than 100 times a minute [6] | | Electric sensors | ≈400 | in the beak tip; a platypus bill has about 40,000 [4][11] | | Egg | 13–17 mm | one soft egg, hatching after 10–11 days in the pouch; About the size of a grape [5] | | Puggle at hatching | ≈0.3 g | 13–15 mm long, smaller than a jellybean [5] | | Body temperature | 29.5–32.5 °C | when active; as low as 4.5 °C in hibernation [4][7] | | Soil moved | up to ≈204 m³ | a year, worked out from wild echidnas wearing motion loggers [14] | | Lifespan | Decades | a wild average of about 17 years in good years; one zoo echidna lived 56 years at San Diego Zoo [5][8] | ### Photos - [Cream spines, dark fur and a long, bare beak, in Mount Field National Park, Tasmania](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tachyglossus_aculeatus_side_on.jpg) (photo: JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/), CC BY-SA 3.0) - [Face to face: small eyes and a tube-shaped beak](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tachyglossus_aculeatus_front_on.jpg) (photo: JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/), CC BY-SA 3.0) - [The beak tip, where the nostrils, the tiny mouth and the electric sensors are, dusted with soil](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Close-up_of_a_short-beaked_echidna_(Tachyglossus_aculeatus)%2C_photographed_in_Wilks_Park_Wildlife_Restoration_Area.jpg) (photo: Bidgee, CC BY-SA 3.0 au) - [Searching an old stump for ants and termites, Mulligans Flat, Canberra](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Echidna_looking_for_food%2C_Mulligans_Flat_Nature_Reserve%2C_ACT.jpg) (photo: Wildlifecartoons, CC BY-SA 4.0) - [A Kangaroo Island echidna, with its many long, pale spines, digging for food](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Short-beaked_echidna_Tachyglossus_aculeatus_multiaculeatus_(8260119626).jpg) (photo: Paul Asman and Jill Lenoble, CC BY 2.0) - [Tucked into a spiky ball in dry grass, Victoria](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wild_shortbeak_echidna_in_protective_ball.jpg) (photo: fir0002 (flagstaffotos), GFDL 1.2) - [A puggle in a researcher’s hand, beside the spines of an adult](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tachyglossus_aculeatus_baby_Museums_Victoria.jpg) (photo: Ian R McCann, CC BY-SA 4.0) - [A Tasmanian echidna: thick fur half-hides its spines, near Scottsdale](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Short-beaked_echidna_(Tachyglossus_aculeatus_setosus)_Scottsdale.jpg) (photo: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0) - [Crossing a road: cars kill many echidnas](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Echidna_on_the_road.jpg) (photo: Petite Trotamundos, CC BY-SA 4.0) - [An echidna scat in a garden in Cairns. Citizen scientists collect scats like this for DNA tests](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Echidna_scat_1.jpg) (photo: Steve Fitzgerald, CC BY-SA 4.0) ### Questions - **Do echidnas really lay eggs?** Yes. Echidnas and the platypus are the only mammals alive today that lay eggs. A female short-beaked echidna lays one soft, leathery egg, about 13–17 mm across, straight into a pouch on her belly. It hatches after about 10–11 days. [13][5] - **What is a baby echidna called?** A puggle. It hatches about 13–15 mm long and weighing about 0.3 g. It laps milk from milk patches in the pouch, because echidnas have no nipples, and leaves the pouch for a burrow when its spines grow. [13][5][3] - **Do echidnas have electric senses?** Yes. The tip of the beak has a few hundred electric sensors, far fewer than the platypus’s 40,000. A trained echidna could detect fields as weak as 1.8 millivolts per centimetre in water. How much echidnas use this sense to find food in the wild is still unknown. [9][10][11] - **What do echidnas eat?** Mostly ants and termites, plus beetle larvae and worms. They break into nests with their claws and catch the insects on a sticky tongue up to about 18 cm long. They have no teeth and grind food between spines on the tongue and the roof of the mouth. [6][3][2] - **Are echidnas related to hedgehogs or porcupines?** No. Echidnas are monotremes, related to the platypus. Hedgehogs and porcupines are placental mammals that give birth to live young. And unlike porcupine quills, echidna spines do not come loose. [13][24][4] - **How long do echidnas live?** A long time for their size, about four times longer than expected. Wild echidnas averaged about 17 years in good years in one study, and an echidna at San Diego Zoo lived there for 56 years. [5][8] - **Are short-beaked echidnas endangered?** No. They are listed as Least Concern and are Australia’s most widespread native mammal. But the Kangaroo Island population is endangered, and cars, foxes, cats, dogs and habitat loss kill echidnas in many places. [1][19][26][2] ### Short-beaked echidna myths and facts Tap Myth or Fact for each claim, then check the answer. - "Echidnas are a kind of hedgehog." **Myth!** Echidnas are monotremes, egg-laying mammals related to the platypus. Hedgehogs give birth to live babies. The two are not close relatives, even though both have spines. [13][24] - "Echidnas are mammals that lay eggs." **Fact!** A female lays one soft, leathery egg into her pouch. Only echidnas and the platypus lay eggs among living mammals. [13][5] - "Echidna mothers feed their babies from nipples." **Myth!** Echidnas have no nipples. Milk seeps out of patches of skin in the pouch, and the puggle licks it up. [3][2] - "Echidnas have no teeth." **Fact!** They grind their food between hard spines on the tongue and the roof of the mouth. [13][6] - "Echidnas find all their food with their electric sense." **Not proven!** Their beak tips can sense weak electric fields, but nobody has yet shown how much they use this sense to find food. Touch and smell matter too. [10][9][3] - "A female echidna has a pouch all year round, like a kangaroo." **Myth!** Her small pouch develops only when she is breeding, ready for her egg. [5][3] - "Echidnas can swim." **Fact!** They can swim short distances, and on Kangaroo Island they have been seen swimming in the sea to cool off. [7] - "Echidnas shoot their spines at enemies." **Myth!** Each spine is anchored in muscle and does not come loose. The echidna digs in or curls up so that its spines face outwards. [4][7] ### A short-beaked echidna’s life From a love train to a grown-up digger. Timings change from place to place. - **Winter**: The love train. Several males follow a female nose to tail in a line. Most trains have 3–5 echidnas; the biggest seen had 11. [12][5] - **≈3 weeks later**: One egg. The female lays a single soft egg, the size of a grape, straight into her new pouch. [5] - **10–11 days**: Hatching. A tiny puggle about 13–15 mm long hatches and laps milk from the milk patches. [5][3] - **≈45–55 days**: Into the nursery burrow. Its spines start to grow, so it leaves the pouch. Its mother leaves it in a burrow, safe and alone. [5][1][26] - **Every 5–10 days**: Milk visits. The mother comes back to feed it for a few hours, then goes off to forage again. [5] - **≈4½–7 months**: Weaned. The young echidna stops drinking milk and starts to find ants and termites on its own. [5] - **≈5 years**: Grown up. On Kangaroo Island echidnas are ready to breed at about five years old. A female may raise only one young every few years. [5] - **Decades**: A long life. Echidnas live about four times longer than expected for an animal their size. A zoo echidna lived 56 years. [5][8] ### Short-beaked echidna vs long-beaked echidna vs platypus vs hedgehog Three egg-laying mammals and the spiny animal people most often mix echidnas up with. | | Short-beaked echidna | Western long-beaked echidna | Platypus | European hedgehog | |---|---|---|---|---| | Scientific name [1][21][22][24] | Tachyglossus aculeatus | Zaglossus bruijnii | Ornithorhynchus anatinus | Erinaceus europaeus | | Native to [1][21][22][24] | Australia and New Guinea | Western New Guinea | Eastern Australia and Tasmania | Europe to central Asia | | Weight [1][21][22][24] | 2–7 kg | 5–16 kg | 0.8–2.5 kg | 0.8–1.2 kg | | Babies [5][21][23][24] | 1 egg, in a pouch | 1 egg, in a pouch | Usually 2 eggs, in a nesting burrow, no pouch | Live babies, usually 4–6 | | Electric sensors [11][23][10] | ≈400 | ≈2,000 | ≈40,000 | None known | | Main food [2][21][22][24] | Ants and termites | Earthworms and grubs | Water insects, shrimps and other small water animals | Beetles and other insects | | Teeth [13][21][23][24] | None | None | None as adults | 36 | Hedgehogs and echidnas both have spines, but they are not close relatives: the hedgehog is a placental mammal that gives birth to live young. ### Short-beaked echidnas as soil gardeners Every hole an echidna digs turns the soil over. Across a whole year, that adds up. - **12%** of its time spent digging. Wild echidnas carrying GPS and motion loggers spent about an eighth of their time digging, more in spring than in summer. [14] - **≈204 m³** of soil a year. That much digging could move up to about 204 cubic metres of soil a year for one echidna. The scientists say this turning-over helps keep the ecosystem healthy. [14] - **≤20 cm** deep feeding holes. Echidnas leave cone-shaped holes in ant nests and termite mounds, and small scratched patches where the snout has stirred up soil and leaf litter. [25] The 204 m³ figure is a calculation from one study of wild echidnas, not a measurement of every echidna. ### Short-beaked echidna names What its names mean, from scientists, First Nations languages and the playground. - **Puggle**: A baby echidna. It starts life in its mother’s pouch, then moves to a nursery burrow when its spines grow. [13][26] - **Monotreme**: The group of egg-laying mammals: the platypus and the echidnas. [10][13] - **Tachyglossus aculeatus**: Its scientific name means ‘spiny fast-tongue’. The first scientist to describe it, in 1792, thought it was a kind of anteater. [3][13] - **Tjilkamata**: One of many First Nations names for the echidna; this one is from the Pitjantjatjara language of central Australia. [25][3] - **Love train**: A line of males following one female through the bush in the winter breeding season. [12] - **On the five-cent coin**: An echidna, designed by Stuart Devlin, has been on Australia’s five-cent coin since decimal money began on 14 February 1966. [20] ### Are short-beaked echidnas endangered? Not as a species. But some populations are in trouble, and echidnas are hard to count because they are shy and hard to spot. - **IUCN Red List:** Least Concern (LC). Least Concern: it is the most widespread native mammal in Australia and lives in almost every habitat, from deserts to snowy mountains. The Kangaroo Island echidna, a separate subspecies, is endangered. [3][19][1] - IUCN Red List, 2016 assessment. - **Threat: Roads**: Slow-moving echidnas often cross roads. After introduced predators, cars are one of the biggest causes of echidna deaths. [1][2][26] - **Threat: Introduced predators**: Foxes, dogs and feral cats kill echidnas, especially young ones. On Kangaroo Island, feral cats are the biggest threat. [2][26] - **Threat: Habitat loss and change**: Clearing, too much grazing by feral animals and changes to fire patterns have made echidnas rarer in some places. [25][26] - **Helping: Echidna detectives** (8,000+): In its first three years, the EchidnaCSI app collected more than 8,000 echidna sightings and 400 scats from the public. Scientists test the scats’ DNA. [19] - **Helping: Tough survivors**: By lying low and cooling down, echidnas can ride out bushfires that kill many other animals. [15] - **Helping: Controlling feral animals**: Feral cats, and to a lesser extent feral pigs, are major threats to Kangaroo Island echidnas, so controlling them is part of protecting echidnas there. [26][2] - **Western long-beaked echidna** (CR): Lives in the rainforests of western New Guinea and eats mostly earthworms. Listed as Critically Endangered. [21] - **Platypus** (NT): The only other living monotreme group. Listed as Near Threatened since 2016. [23] ### Looks - **Mainland echidna**: Cream spines with dark tips over short, dark brown fur, and a bare grey beak. On the mainland the spines usually stand out more than the fur. (Adults usually weigh 2–7 kg) [4][1] - **Tasmanian echidna**: Soft, thick, often light-brown fur, with spines that are shorter and fewer and rarely poke out far. Echidnas in colder places tend to be furrier. (A little smaller than mainland echidnas) [4][3] - **Western long-beaked echidna**: A bigger cousin in another genus, shown as a reskin: coarse fur with short spines, and a longer beak that curves down. It eats mostly earthworms. (Critically Endangered) [21] ### Short-beaked echidna quiz 1. What kind of animal is an echidna? **A mammal that lays eggs.** Echidnas are monotremes: mammals with fur and milk that lay eggs, like the platypus. [13] 2. How many eggs does a female echidna lay at a time? **One.** Just one soft, leathery egg, about the size of a grape. [5][13] 3. Where does she put her egg? **Straight into a pouch on her belly.** She lays it into a small, temporary pouch, where it hatches after 10–11 days. [5][3] 4. What is a baby echidna called? **A puggle.** A puggle. When it hatches it is only about 13–15 mm long, smaller than a jellybean. [13][5] 5. How does a puggle drink its mother’s milk? **It licks it from milk patches, because echidnas have no nipples.** Milk seeps out of patches of skin inside the pouch and the puggle laps it up. [3][2] 6. Where are the echidna’s electric sensors? **In the tip of its beak.** They are all in the tip of the beak, at the openings of special mucus glands. [9][10] 7. About how many electric sensors are in a platypus bill? **About 40,000.** About 40,000. A short-beaked echidna has only about 400 or fewer. [11][23] 8. How far can an echidna’s tongue reach? **Up to about 18 cm.** Up to about 18 cm, and it can flick in and out more than 100 times a minute. [6] 9. What does the name Tachyglossus mean? **Fast tongue.** Fast tongue. Aculeatus, the second part of its name, means spiny. [13][3] 10. How much soil could one echidna turn over in a year, according to a study with motion loggers? **Up to about 204 cubic metres.** Up to about 204 cubic metres, because wild echidnas spent about 12% of their time digging. [14] 11. What is the lowest body temperature recorded in a hibernating echidna? **4.5 °C.** 4.5 °C. Hibernating echidnas usually stay at about 8–10 °C, and active ones at about 30–32 °C. [4][17] 12. Which Australian coin has an echidna on it? **The 5-cent coin.** The 5-cent coin, with an echidna designed by Stuart Devlin, since 1966. [20] ### Sources (checked 2026-10-29) 1. [Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. Tachyglossus aculeatus (short-beaked echidna).](https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Tachyglossus_aculeatus/) 2. [Australian Museum. Short-beaked echidna.](https://australian.museum/learn/animals/mammals/short-beaked-echidna/) 3. [Wikipedia. Short-beaked echidna.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short-beaked_echidna) 4. [San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Library. Short-beaked echidna fact sheet: physical characteristics.](https://ielc.libguides.com/sdzg/factsheets/short-beaked-echidna/characteristics) 5. [San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Library. Short-beaked echidna fact sheet: reproduction and development.](https://ielc.libguides.com/sdzg/factsheets/short-beaked-echidna/reproduction) 6. [San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Library. Short-beaked echidna fact sheet: diet and feeding.](https://ielc.libguides.com/sdzg/factsheets/short-beaked-echidna/diet) 7. [San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Library. Short-beaked echidna fact sheet: behaviour and ecology.](https://ielc.libguides.com/sdzg/factsheets/short-beaked-echidna/behavior) 8. [San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Library. Short-beaked echidna fact sheet: managed care.](https://ielc.libguides.com/sdzg/factsheets/short-beaked-echidna/managedcare) 9. [Gregory JE, Iggo A, McIntyre AK, Proske U (1989). Responses of electroreceptors in the snout of the echidna. Journal of Physiology.](https://doi.org/10.1113/jphysiol.1989.sp017701) 10. [Proske U, Gregory JE, Iggo A (1998). Sensory receptors in monotremes. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.](https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1998.0275) 11. [Australian Geographic (2017). Are echidnas really platypuses?](https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2017/06/are-echidnas-really-platypuses/) 12. [Australian Geographic (2021). Echidna trains: explained.](https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/nature-wildlife/2021/08/echidna-trains-explained/) 13. [Department for Environment and Water, South Australia (2019). Echidna facts (Good Living blog).](https://www.environment.sa.gov.au/goodliving/posts/2019/01/echidna-facts) 14. [Clemente CJ, Cooper CE, Withers PC, Freakley C, Singh S, Terrill P (2016). The private life of echidnas: using accelerometry and GPS to examine field biomechanics and assess the ecological impact of a widespread, semi-fossorial monotreme. Journal of Experimental Biology 219: 3271–3283.](https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.143867) 15. [Nowack J, Cooper CE, Geiser F (2016). Cool echidnas survive the fire. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 283: 20160382.](https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.0382) 16. [Nicol SC, Andersen NA (2007). Cooling rates and body temperature regulation of hibernating echidnas (Tachyglossus aculeatus). Journal of Experimental Biology 210: 586–592.](https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.02701) 17. [Nicol SC (2017). Energy homeostasis in monotremes. Frontiers in Neuroscience 11: 195.](https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2017.00195) 18. [Nicol SC, Morrow GE, Harris RL (2019). Energetics meets sexual conflict: the phenology of hibernation in Tasmanian echidnas. Functional Ecology 33(11): 2150–2160.](https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.13447) 19. [Perry T, Stenhouse A, Wilson I, et al. (2022). EchidnaCSI: engaging the public in research and conservation of the short-beaked echidna. PNAS 119(5): e2108826119.](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2108826119) 20. [Royal Australian Mint. Five cents.](https://ramint.gov.au/five-cents) 21. [Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. Zaglossus bruijni (western long-beaked echidna).](https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Zaglossus_bruijni/) 22. [Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. Ornithorhynchus anatinus (duck-billed platypus).](https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Ornithorhynchus_anatinus/) 23. [Wikipedia. Platypus.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platypus) 24. [Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. Erinaceus europaeus (western European hedgehog).](https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Erinaceus_europaeus/) 25. [NESP Threatened Species Recovery Hub (2021). Arid Zone Monitoring species profile: short-beaked echidna.](https://www.nespthreatenedspecies.edu.au/media/atdhz0lv/azm_species-profile_short-beaked-echidna_v1.pdf) 26. [Foundation for Australia’s Most Endangered Species (FAME) (2019). Kangaroo Island echidna.](https://www.fame.org.au/news/kangaroo-island-echidna-threatened-thursday) ## Measurements & details - **Length:** 30-45 cm - **Weight:** 2-5 kg - **Lifespan:** 10-15 years - **Speed:** 3 km/h - **Litter Size:** 1 - **Gestation:** 27-28 days ## Diet & Feeding This spiky mammal loves munching on ants, termites, and other small insects it finds underground! - **Primary Foods:** ants, termites, earthworms, beetle larvae, grubs - **Foraging Method:** Foraging ## Ecological connections - **Eaten by:** Dingo (*Canis dingo*) — Young echidnas are vulnerable to dingoes. - **Eaten by:** Wedge-tailed Eagle (*Aquila audax*) — Eagles can prey on echidnas from above. - **Eaten by:** [Tasmanian Devil](https://www.snappit.app/explore/tasmanian-devil) (*Sarcophilus harrisii*) — Devils are known to scavenge or hunt echidnas. ## Traits - [Furry](https://www.snappit.app/explore/traits/furry): Furry describes animals possessing a dense covering of soft hair or fur. - [Solitary](https://www.snappit.app/explore/traits/solitary): Solitary animals live alone for most of their lives, only interacting with others for mating or parental care. - [Burrowing](https://www.snappit.app/explore/traits/burrowing): Burrowing animals dig tunnels and chambers in the ground, using these subterranean structures for shelter, hunting, or breeding. - [Grassland](https://www.snappit.app/explore/traits/grassland): Grassland habitats are terrestrial biomes dominated by grasses and herbaceous plants, supporting a variety of grazing animals. - [Insectivorous](https://www.snappit.app/explore/traits/insectivorous): This trait identifies organisms whose diet primarily consists of insects and other small invertebrates. - [Ancient Lineage](https://www.snappit.app/explore/traits/ancient-lineage): This trait signifies organisms belonging to a very old evolutionary group with ancestors dating back millions of years. - [Spiky/Thorny](https://www.snappit.app/explore/traits/spiky-thorny): Possessing sharp, pointed projections or spines on the body or surface. ## Collections - [Mammals](https://www.snappit.app/explore/collections/mammals) ## Safety **Danger:** 2/5 · Low If you see an echidna, watch it from a distance and don’t try to touch it, as it can be prickly. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### How to identify short-beaked echidna? Compare ears, muzzle, tail, feet and coat markings. Size is hard to judge without something nearby for scale, and young mammals may not have adult coloring yet. Mammal Identifier: upload a photo and compare the visible details. ### How long is short-beaked echidna? 30-45 cm ### How much does short-beaked echidna weigh? 2-5 kg ### How long does short-beaked echidna live? 10-15 years ### How fast can short-beaked echidna move? 3 km/h ### What does short-beaked echidna eat? This spiky mammal loves munching on ants, termites, and other small insects it finds underground! ### Where is short-beaked echidna usually found? Grasslands ### How does short-beaked echidna hunt? Foraging ## More Mammals - [Eastern Fox Squirrel](https://www.snappit.app/explore/eastern-fox-squirrel) (*Sciurus niger*) - [Eastern Cottontail](https://www.snappit.app/explore/eastern-cottontail) (*Sylvilagus floridanus*) - [Eastern Chipmunk](https://www.snappit.app/explore/eastern-chipmunk) (*Tamias striatus*) - [California Ground Squirrel](https://www.snappit.app/explore/california-ground-squirrel) (*Otospermophilus beecheyi*) --- Source: [Short-beaked Echidna: Facts & Places to See — Snappit](https://www.snappit.app/explore/short-beaked-echidna)