Oviparous mammal: description, features, reproduction and species. Egg-laying mammal: description, features, reproduction and species The photo shows a woolly echidna

The Australian echidna is covered with spines, like the porcupine, but in terms of nutrition, it is more like an anteater. Echidnas and platypuses are the only mammals that lay eggs.

   Row - single pass
   Family - echidnovye
   Genus/Species - Tachyglossus aculeatus

Basic data:
DIMENSIONS
Body length: 35-50 cm.
Tail length: up to 10 cm.
Spines length: 6 cm
Weight: 2.5-6 kg, males are a quarter heavier than females.

BREEDING
Puberty: from 1 year.
Mating period: from June.
Offspring development: hatches from the egg after 10 days, leaves the pouch after 6-8 weeks.
Number of cubs: 1.

LIFESTYLE
Habits: keep alone; animals are active at dawn and dusk.
Food: ants, termites and other terrestrial insects.
Lifespan: up to 50 years old.

RELATED SPECIES
The only relative is the prochidna (Zaglossus bruijni) living in New Guinea.

The Australian echidna feeds on termites and ants. In most cases, it inhabits light grassy and wooded areas with sufficiently loose soil so that in case of danger it is possible to quickly dig a protective recess.

FOOD

Australian echidna feeds various types termites and ants. Only sometimes, in order to diversify its diet, it eats other insects and small animals. The echidna is a carnivore, but the amount of prey is limited by the size of its mouth. Its peculiarity is that the upper jaw of the echidna is connected to the lower one. So, the mouth opening of the echidna is very small and opens exclusively at the end of a long, pointed muzzle. Therefore, the animal catches prey with a long, worm-like tongue with a sticky surface. She can push him 18 cm.
Ants stick to the tongue and the echidna draws them into its mouth. The echidna has no teeth, so the animal grinds food with horny teeth that cover the base of the tongue and palate. With the help of the tongue, the echidna also swallows pebbles and earth, which contribute to the grinding of food in the stomach. Echidna usually goes hunting early in the morning and at dusk. If unbearable heat reigns, then the echidna comes out of the shelter only at night. The echidna finds its prey with the help of an excellent sense of smell. She sniffs forest floor and heaps of leaves, from which he digs up termites and ants. When digging, the echidna turns over stones that are twice as heavy as it. She rests her paws on the ground and pushes the stones away with her shoulders.

LIFESTYLE

The size of the area necessary for the echidna to live depends on the amount of food on it. In humid forest areas, where there is usually a lot of prey, the territory of the animal is approximately 50 hectares, and some areas may partially overlap. During the day, the Australian echidna rests, hiding under the roots of trees, stones or in hollows. At night, she goes in search of insects. The Australian echidna leaves its shelter only at a certain temperature. In too hot time, she comes out of hiding only at night. Echidna does not tolerate heat and excess very well. solar heat. If the animal does not hide from the sun's rays in time, this can lead to its death. In cold weather, the echidna can stay out of hiding all day long. This animal has few enemies: the danger for the echidna is only a meeting with a person who hunts her for fat.
When the echidna is frightened by something, it surprisingly quickly partially burrows into the loose earth. If the ground is hard, the echidna rolls up into a ball like a hedgehog. In the cold season, the Australian echidna falls into a short hibernation.

BREEDING

Australian echidnas breed in July and August, when winter reigns in the southern hemisphere. Only at this time of the year the animals are kept in pairs. The female, ready for mating, leaves an odorous trail on the ground, according to which the male finds her. Having found such a trail, the male goes along it in search of the female. Often 3-5 males follow one female. About two weeks after mating, the female lays 1 hazelnut-sized egg. It is still unclear how the egg gets into the echidna's pouch. It has been proven that she cannot do this with her paws, so it is believed that the echidna, bending over, carries it right into the bag.
After 7-10 days, a cub 12 mm long hatches from the egg. He sticks his head into the pouch where the mammary glands open and licks off the milk.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT...

In case of danger, the Australian echidna wraps itself in a ball, as the hedgehog known to us does.
Tasmanian echidnas living in Tasmania have shorter spines and less frequent placement, so they do not need a highly developed scratching claw.
Echidnas, like humans, belong to a small group of long-lived mammals that can live for more than 50 years. Such a long lifespan is very atypical for such a small animal.
The platypus and echidna living in Australia are the only mammals that lay eggs.
Female echidnas do not have the classic exit of the mammary glands - nipples. The milk flows out through the pores into a hairy pouch on the front of the pouch, where it is licked off by the young.
Male echidnas have a special outgrowth on the heels of their hind legs - a horn spur, into which a poisonous gland opens. However, this gland does not perform any function, that is, it does not produce poison.

FEATURES OF THE AUSTRALIAN ECHIDNA

   Nose: pointed, naked, with well-developed nostrils and a small mouth opening at the end.
   Spines: grow from thick wool, covering the back and sides Australian echidna.
   Teeth: the elephant has only four functional teeth 30 cm long, one on each side of the jaw. They can grow up to six times during the life of an animal.
   All four paws have 5 strong claws adapted for digging.
   The second finger on the hind legs ends in a long curved claw, which serves as a echidna for scratching the skin.
   Echidna digs the ground looking for termites and ants. She picks up insects with her sticky tongue.

- Range of the Australian echidna
PLACES OF ACCOMMODATION
The Australian echidna lives in the arid regions of Australia and Tasmania.
PRESERVATION
The Australian echidna has little natural enemies- she is threatened only by the fact that the inhabitants of Australia consider her fat a delicacy. Echidnas don't do any harm and don't have much economic importance, so they are not massively hunted.

Echidna- a mammal of the oviparous order. Forms a family of the same name. There are two main species, the Australian echidna and the Tasmanian echidna. They live in Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea.

Echidna is a small animal, no more than 40 cm in size. The muzzle is narrow, pointed. The mouth is small. The body is covered with hair and sharp needles up to 6 cm long. The tip of the small tail is also covered with needles.

Echidnas became known to science relatively recently, at the end of the 18th century, like the closest relative of echidna - .

The main feature of the echidna and the same platypus is that they are both oviparous and mammals. The female echidna lays one egg and carries it in a brood pouch on her belly. And when a cub appears, she feeds him with milk. Milk is secreted by special mammary glands. 100-150 pores open on the body, and the cub simply sucks wool moistened with milk.

Echidna and platypus, in addition to laying eggs, have another common feature - an organ called a cloaca. The intestines, ureters and genital tract open into the cloaca. This is where the single-pass squad takes its name (sometimes it is also called the cloacal detachment).

Adult monotremes have no teeth, and body temperature can fluctuate considerably. In this they are similar to reptiles. But still, these amazing animals are considered mammals according to two most important features: the presence of mammary glands and hairline. Interestingly, both the platypus and the echidna are voiceless animals, they simply do not have vocal cords.

At first glance, the echidna resembles big hedgehog or a small porcupine, as its body is covered with quills. But there are no family ties between these animals. Echidna is found in Australia, in eastern half mainland and at its western tip, and on the island of Tasmania, preferring shrub thickets.

In New Guinea, there is a prochidna. She is different from Australian echidnas a longer and more curved muzzle and high three-toed limbs, as well as small external ears.

Prochidna looks like a creature from science fiction books

The size of the echidna does not exceed 30 cm. It has very strong paws, and it is able to burrow into the ground very quickly, escaping from the enemy. Another way to protect yourself is to curl up into a prickly ball, just like a hedgehog.

At night, the echidna goes in search of insects and worms. She is not averse to eating termites and ants and is quite capable of ruining an anthill. Despite their apparent clumsiness, echidnas are good swimmers.

During the mating season, females attract the attention of males, and for some time the animals coexist in groups. They move in a chain in search of food and rest together. Then, after mating fights between males, the female chooses the most “strong” cavalier.

A single echidna egg is "hatched" for 10 days in a special bag. To get out of the egg, the tiny cub breaks the shell with the help of a horny bump on the nose. The cub stays in the mother's pouch for about 50 days, until the quills begin to develop.

baby echidna

After that, the mother digs a hole for the cub, in which she leaves him, returning once every few days to feed her with milk. Thus, the young echidna is under the care of its mother until it reaches the age of seven months.

young echidna

Male echidnas have formidable weapon on the hind legs - bone sharp spikes. And those thorns are poisonous!

Among echidnas there are also albinos

In general, despite its small size, the echidna is a very strong animal. If she clings to something with her clawed paws, it is difficult to tear her off. And there are few hunters to do it.

Echidna covered with red clay (digging a hole)

Predators introduced by humans into their habitats have a negative impact on the distribution and abundance of echidnas. The reduction of traditional habitats is also a great danger, in connection with which all species of the genus prochidna are recognized as endangered.

The echidna leads a secretive life and has not yet been sufficiently studied. In captivity, life expectancy is about 20 years.

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2 families: platypuses and echidnas
Range: Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea
Food: insects, small aquatic animals
Body length: 30 to 80 cm

Subclass oviparous mammals represented by only one detachment - single-pass. This detachment unites only two families: platypus and echidna. single pass are the most primitive living mammals. They are the only mammals which, like birds or reptiles, reproduce by laying eggs. Oviparous feed their young with milk and therefore are classified as mammals. Female echidnas and platypuses do not have nipples, and the young lick the milk secreted by the tubular mammary glands directly from the fur on the mother's belly.

amazing animals

Echidnas and platypuses- the most unusual representatives of the class of mammals. They are called single-pass because both the intestines and bladder of these animals open into one special cavity - the cloaca. Two oviducts in monotreme females also go there. Most mammals do not have a cloaca; this cavity is characteristic of reptiles. The stomach of oviparous is also amazing - like a bird's goiter, it does not digest food, but only stores it. Digestion takes place in the intestines. In these strange mammals, even the body temperature is lower than in others: without rising above 36 ° C, it can drop to 25 ° C, depending on environment like reptiles. Echidnas and platypuses are voiceless - they do not have vocal cords, and only young platypuses have toothless - rapidly decaying teeth.

Echidnas live up to 30 years, platypuses - up to 10. They live in forests, steppes overgrown with shrubs, and even in mountains at an altitude of up to 2500 m.

Origin and discovery of oviparous

Short Fact
Platypuses and echidnas are venomous mammals. On their hind legs they have a bone spur, through which a poisonous liquid flows. This poison causes in most animals quick death, and in humans - severe pain and swelling. Among mammals, in addition to the platypus and echidna, only a representative of the order of insectivores is venomous - an open tooth and two species of shrews.

Like all mammals, oviparous descend from reptilian ancestors. However, they separated quite early from other mammals, choosing their own path of development and forming a separate branch in the evolution of animals. Thus, the oviparous were not the ancestors of other mammals - they developed in parallel with them and independently of them. Platypuses are more ancient animals than echidnas, which evolved from them, changed and adapted to the terrestrial way of life.

Europeans learned about the existence of egg-laying almost 100 years after the discovery of Australia, at the end of the 17th century. When the skin of a platypus was brought to the English zoologist George Shaw, he decided that he was simply played, the appearance of this bizarre creation of nature was so unusual for Europeans. And the fact that echidnas and platypuses reproduce by laying eggs has become one of the greatest zoological sensations.

Despite the fact that the echidna and platypus have been known to science for quite a long time, these amazing animals are still presenting new discoveries to zoologists.

wonder beast, platypus as if assembled from parts of different animals: his nose is like a duck's beak, a flat tail with a shovel seems to be taken from a beaver, webbed paws look like flippers, but are equipped with powerful claws for digging (when digging, the membrane bends, and when walking it gathers into folds, without interfering with free movement). But for all the seeming absurdity, this beast is perfectly adapted to the way of life that it leads, and has hardly changed over millions of years.

At night, the platypus hunts for small crustaceans, mollusks and other small aquatic animals. The tail-fin and webbed paws help him to dive and swim well. The eyes, ears and nostrils of the platypus close tightly in the water, and it finds its prey in the dark under water with the help of a sensitive "beak". On this leathery "beak" are electroreceptors that can pick up weak electrical impulses emitted by movement of aquatic invertebrates. Reacting to these signals, the platypus instantly searches for prey, fills the cheek pouches, and then slowly eats the caught on the shore.

All day the platypus sleeps near the pond in a hole dug by powerful claws. The platypus has a dozen such holes, and each has several exits and entrances - not an extra precaution. To breed offspring, the female platypus prepares a special hole lined with soft leaves and grass - it is warm and humid there.

Pregnancy lasts a month, and the female lays one to three leathery eggs. Mother platypus incubates eggs for 10 days, warming them with her body. Newborn tiny platypuses, 2.5 cm long, live on their mother's belly for another 4 months, feeding on milk. Female most spends time lying on its back and only occasionally leaves the burrow to feed. Leaving, the platypus wall up the cubs in the nest so that no one will disturb them until she returns. At the age of 5 months, matured platypuses become independent and leave their mother's hole.

Platypuses were mercilessly exterminated because of their valuable fur, but now, fortunately, they are taken under the strictest protection, and their numbers have increased again.

A relative of the platypus, it does not look like him at all. She, like the platypus, is an excellent swimmer, but she does it only for pleasure: she does not know how to dive and get food under water.

Another important difference: the echidna has brood bag- pocket on the belly, where she puts the egg. The female, although she raises her cubs in a comfortable hole, can safely leave her - an egg or a newborn cub in her pocket is reliably protected from the vicissitudes of fate. At the age of 50 days, the little echidna already leaves the bag, but for about 5 months it lives in a hole under the auspices of a caring mother.

Echidna lives on the ground and feeds on insects, mainly ants and termites. Raking termite mounds with strong paws with hard claws, it extracts insects with a long and sticky tongue. The body of the echidna is protected by needles, and in case of danger it curls up into a ball, like an ordinary hedgehog, exposing the enemy with a prickly back.

wedding ceremony

From May to September, the mating season begins for the echidna. At this time, the female echidna enjoys special attention from males. They line up and follow her in single file. The procession is led by the female, and the grooms follow her in order of seniority - the youngest and most inexperienced close the chain. So, in a company, echidnas spend a whole month, looking for food together, traveling and relaxing.

But the rivals cannot coexist peacefully for long. Demonstrating their strength and passion, they begin to dance around the chosen one, raking the ground with their claws. The female finds herself in the center of a circle formed by a deep furrow, and the males begin to fight, pushing each other out of the ring-shaped pit. The winner of the tournament gets the favor of the female.

Australian echidna- an egg-laying mammal of the echidna family. This is the only representative of the genus of true echidnas.

The Australian echidna was first described in 1792 by the English zoologist George Shaw (who described the platypus a few years later). Shaw mistakenly classified this strange, long-nosed animal caught on an anthill as an anteater. Ten years later, anatomist Edward Home discovered in echidna and platypus common feature- cloaca, into which the intestines, ureters and genital tract open. Based on this feature, a detachment of monotremes was singled out.

Like the platypus, the "beak" of the echidna is richly innervated. Its skin contains both mechanoreceptors and special electroreceptor cells; with their help, the echidna picks up weak vibrations electric field arising from the movement of small animals. Not a single mammal, apart from echidnas and platypuses, has had such an electrolocation organ.

Echidna's limbs are shortened. The fingers are equipped with powerful flat claws, adapted for digging the earth and breaking the walls of termite mounds. In females, after giving birth, a brood pouch appears on the abdomen.

The Australian echidna is found in Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea and the islands in the Bass Strait. Five subspecies are known.

This is a terrestrial animal, although if necessary it is able to swim and cross fairly large bodies of water. Echidna is found in any landscape that provides it with enough food - from moist forests to dry bush and even deserts. It is also found in mountainous areas, where snow lies part of the year, and on agricultural lands, and even in the metropolitan suburbs. Echidna is active mainly during the day, however hot weather makes her switch to a nocturnal lifestyle. Echidna is poorly adapted to heat, since it does not have sweat glands, and its body temperature is very low - 30-32 ° C. When hot or cold weather she becomes lethargic; with a strong cold snap, it hibernates for up to 4 months. Stocks of subcutaneous fat allow her, if necessary, to starve for a month or more.

Echidna feeds on ants, termites, less often other insects, small mollusks and worms.

Echidna leads a solitary lifestyle (with the exception of the mating season). This is not a territorial animal - echidnas encountered simply ignore each other; it does not suit permanent burrows and nests. For rest, the echidna settles in any convenient place - under the roots, stones, in the hollows of fallen trees. The echidna runs badly. Its main defense is thorns; a disturbed echidna rolls up into a ball, like a hedgehog, and if it has time, it partially burrows into the ground, exposing its back to the enemy with raised needles.

Among the predators that prey on echidnas are Tasmanian devils, as well as cats, foxes and dogs introduced by people. Humans rarely pursue her, as the skin of the echidna is of little value and the meat is not particularly tasty. The sounds that an alarmed echidna makes are reminiscent of soft grunts.

In nature, the echidna lives up to 16 years; the recorded longevity record at the zoo is 45 years.

The Australian echidna is common in Australia and Tasmania and is not an endangered species. It is less affected by land clearing, since the Australian echidna does not place special requirements on habitats, in addition to sufficient food. The main danger for her is t vehicles and habitat destruction leading to range fragmentation. Animals brought by colonists prey on echidnas.

Echidnas do well in captivity, but do not breed. Only five zoos managed to get the offspring of the Australian echidna, but in no case did the young grow to adulthood.

The Australian echidna is depicted on the 5 cent coin and on the $200 commemorative coin issued in Australia in 1992. Millie the echidna was one of the mascots of the Summer olympic games 2000 in Sydney.

International scientific name

Tachyglossus aculeatus (Shaw, )

area conservation status Geochronology

Systematics
on Wikispecies

Images
at Wikimedia Commons

ITIS
NCBI
EOL

History of study

The Australian echidna was first described in 1792 by the English zoologist George Shaw (who described the platypus a few years later). The show gave her a name Myrmecophaga aculeata, mistakenly classifying this strange long-nosed animal caught on an anthill as an anteater. Ten years later, anatomist Edward Home discovered a common feature in echidna and platypus - the cloaca, into which the intestines, ureters and genital tract open. Based on this feature, the detachment of monotremes was singled out.

Echidna successively changed several more names - Ornithorhynchus hystrix, Echidna hystrix, Echidna aculeate until I got the current - Tachyglossus aculeatus. Its generic name in Greek means "quick language"; specific - "prickly".

Appearance and physiology

The Australian echidna is smaller than the prochidna: its usual length is 30-45 cm, weight is from 2.5 to 5 kg. The Tasmanian subspecies is somewhat larger - up to 53 cm. The head of the echidna is covered with coarse hair; the neck is short, almost invisible from the outside. The auricles are not visible. The muzzle of the echidna is elongated into a narrow "beak" 75 mm long, straight or slightly curved. It is an adaptation to searching for prey in narrow crevices and holes, from where the echidna gets it with its long sticky tongue. The mouth opening at the end of the beak is toothless and very small; it does not open wider than 5 mm. Like the platypus, the "beak" of the echidna is richly innervated. Its skin contains both mechanoreceptors and special electroreceptor cells; with their help, the echidna picks up weak fluctuations in the electric field that occur when small animals move. Not a single mammal, apart from echidnas and platypuses, has had such an electrolocation organ.

Echidna leads a solitary lifestyle (with the exception of the mating season). This is not a territorial animal - echidnas encountered simply ignore each other; not satisfied with permanent burrows and nests. For rest, the echidna settles in any convenient place - under the roots, stones, in the hollows of fallen trees. The echidna runs badly. Its main defense is thorns; a disturbed echidna rolls up into a ball, like a hedgehog, and if it has time, it partially burrows into the ground, exposing its back to the enemy with raised needles. It is very difficult to pull the echidna out of the dug hole, because it strongly rests on its paws and needles. Among the predators that prey on echidnas are Tasmanian devils, as well as cats, foxes and dogs introduced by people. Humans rarely pursue her, as the skin of the echidna is of little value and the meat is not particularly tasty. The sounds that an alarmed echidna makes are reminiscent of soft grunts.

One of the largest fleas is found on echidnas, Bradiopsylla echidnae, which is up to 4 mm long.

reproduction

Echidnas live so secretly that the features of their mating behavior and reproduction were published only in 2003, after 12 years of field observations. It turned out that during the courtship period, which lasts from May to September (in different parts range, the time of its onset varies), these animals are kept in groups consisting of a female and several males. Both females and males at this time emit a strong musky smell, allowing them to find each other. The group feeds and rests together; when crossing, echidnas follow in single file, forming a "train" or caravan. Ahead is a female, followed by males, which can be 7-10. Courtship lasts up to four weeks. When the female is ready to mate, she lies down, and the males begin to circle around her, throwing clods of earth aside. After some time, a real trench 18-25 cm deep forms around the female. The males violently push each other, pushing them out of the trench until one victorious male remains inside the ring. If there was only one male, the trench is straight. Mating (on the side) lasts about an hour.

Pregnancy lasts 21-28 days. The female builds a brood burrow, a warm, dry chamber often dug under an empty anthill, termite mound, or even under a pile of garden debris next to human habitation. Usually in the clutch there is one leathery egg with a diameter of 13-17 mm and weighing only 1.5 g. For a long time it remained a mystery how the echidna moves the egg from the cloaca to the brood pouch - its mouth is too small for this, and its paws are clumsy. Presumably, postponing it, the echidna deftly curls up into a ball; while the skin on the abdomen forms a fold that releases a sticky fluid. As it freezes, it glues the egg that has rolled onto its stomach and at the same time shapes the bag.

After 10 days, a tiny cub hatches - puggle: it is 15 mm long and weighs only 0.4-0.5 g. When hatching, the puggle breaks the egg shell with the help of a horny bump on the nose, an analogue of the egg tooth of birds and reptiles. The eyes of a newborn echidna are hidden under the skin, and the hind legs are practically not developed. But the front paws already have well-defined fingers. With their help, the newborn moves from the back of the bag to the front in about 4 hours, where there is a special area of skin called the milky field, or areola. In this area, 100-150 pores of the mammary glands open; each pore is provided with a modified hair. When the cub squeezes these hairs with his mouth, milk enters his stomach. The high iron content gives echidna milk its pink color.

Echidnas do well in captivity, but do not breed. Only five zoos managed to get the offspring of the Australian echidna, but in no case did the young grow to adulthood.