Echidnas are small
mammals that are covered with coarse
hair and
spines. Superficially they resemble both the
anteaters of South America and other spiny mammals like
hedgehogs and
porcupines. They have snouts which have the functions of both the mouth and nose. Their snouts are elongated and slender. They have very short, strong
limbs with large
claws and are powerful diggers. Echidnas have a tiny
mouth and a toothless
jaw. They feed by tearing open soft logs,
anthills and the like, and use their long, sticky
tongue which protrudes from their snout to collect their prey. The
Short-beaked Echidna's diet consists largely of ants and termites, while the
Zaglossus species typically eat worms and insect larvae.
The four species of echidna, along with the
Platypus, are the only egg-laying mammals, known as
monotremes. The female lays a single soft-shelled, leathery
egg twenty-two days after mating and deposits it directly into her pouch. Hatching takes ten days; the young echidna, called a puggle, then sucks
milk from the
pores of the two
milk patches (monotremes have no
nipples) and remains in the pouch for forty-five to fifty-five days, at which time it starts to develop spines. The mother digs a nursery burrow and deposits the puggle, returning every five days to suckle it until it is weaned at seven months.