Echidna is a very nonstandard animal. It is smallgrowing, feeds on ants, covered with thorns, has a tongue like a woodpecker. And the echidna is also laying eggs.
Who is so malicious?
They do not talk about Echidna in the news and do not write in fairy tales. You can hear extremely rarely about this animal. This is partly explained by the fact that Ychidn, or rather their habitats, are not so many on earth. Nowadays, they live only in Australia, New Guinea and some islands in the Brassi Strait.
Outwardly echidna is very reminiscent of a hedgehog or porcupine. On her back there are several dozen sharp needles, which the animal can raise in case of danger. Muzzle and sarcine’s stomach are covered with short fur. The “business card” is a long nose that makes them relatives of another rare animal a platypus. Glutters are a whole family. It includes three kinds, but the representatives of one of them no longer exist.
The usual body length is echidna 30 centimeters. Short paws are equipped with powerful claws. With their help, the animal knows how to dig well and quickly digs holes even in solid ground. Когда поблизости нет надежного убежища, а опасность рядом, ехидна способна закопаться в грунт, оставив на поверхности лишь полушарие с острыми иглами. If necessary, Echidna can swim well and overcome long water barriers.
Echidna lay eggs. In the “masonry” the egg is only one in a special bag. The cub is born after 10 days and lives in the same bag for the first one and a half months. The power of a small echidna is produced by milk, but not from the nipples, but from special then in certain places of the body called dairy fields. After a month and a half, mom puts the cub in a prepared hole and feeds milk once every five days until seven months.
Life is malicious
The animal leads a single lifestyle, forming pairs only in the marriage period. Echidna does not have a nest or something like. Any suitable place becomes a refuge and a vacation spot. Having a nomadic lifestyle, Echidna learned to see the slightest danger in advance and instantly respond to it.
In the arsenal of detection, there are acute scum, excellent hearing and special receptor cells that capture a change in the electromagnetic field around the animal. Thanks to this, Echidna records the movements of even such tiny living organisms as ants. Such ability helps not only in time to notice the danger, but also find food.
The main “dish” in the diet of Ychidna ants and termites. The long thin nose of the animal is as adapted as much as possible for their extraction from narrow cracks, Laz and Nor. But the main role in obtaining insects is played. He has a very thin, sticky and capable of stretching from his mouth up to 18 centimeters. Ants stick to the mucosa and transported into the mouth. In the same way, insects are extracted from under the bark of woodc.
Another interesting fact is the lack of teeth in Ychidna. In general, you do not need to chew ants, but the animal eats not only them. The diet also includes worms, some insects and even mollusks! To grind them, there are small keratin growths in the echidna mouth, rubbing. Thanks to them, the food grinds and enters the stomach.
In search of food, Echidna turns stones over, touches fallen leaves and can even remove the bark from fallen trees. With a good feed base, it accumulates a fat layer that helps to survive a possible lack of feed in the future. Когда наступают «трудные времена» ехидна может прожить без еды до месяца.
