![]() Echidnas don’t just lay eggs, they also have pouches.When threatened it curls into a ball, allowing its spines to protrude. The Short-beaked echidna uses its spikes as protection.They have a long tongue which they use to lick up ants and termites, this tongue is where their scientific name “Tachyglossus” comes from. Their snout is elongated and covered in a layer of skin resembling a bird’s beak. Unlike the spiny anteater, these spikes are not barbed. It’s covered in a thin layer of insulating hair and a layer of long keratin spikes. The short-beaked echidna resembles a small anteater. Where they’re found: Australia, New Guinea.Scientific name: Tachyglossus aculeatus.Short-beaked echidna image: patrickkavanagh | Flickr | CC 2.0 Since the duck-billed platypus looks like a patchwork of other animals, when scientists were first presented with a specimen, they thought they were being subjected to a ruse.Ģ. They were originally thought to be a hoax.To protect the webbing between their toes when walking on the land, they curl their toes under and walk on their knuckles. When hunting they sweep their heads back and forth to locate their prey. They have around 40,000 electroreceptors in their bill and can detect weak electrical fields. Platypus use electroreception to find food.Males have sharp spurs on their rear feet, which deliver a toxin to competing males during mating season. Duck-billed platypus are the only venomous mammals.They are aquatic and feed by scooping worms, and insects from the water bottom and store it in cheek pouches to eat when they come out of the water. ![]() This form the bill from which they get their name. Their most distinguishing feature is a long snout and lower jaw, which is covered in soft leathery skin. They have dense fur that traps a layer of air to provide insulation while in the water. The platypus has a squat beaver-like body, with webbed feet. Scientific name: Ornithorhynchus anatinus.Duck-billed Platypus image: Alan Couch | Flickr | CC 2.0 Keep reading for some fun facts about these fascinating animals. There are only 5 known species of monotremes still in existence. Their legs are on the sides of their bodies, unlike other mammals, whose legs are positioned under their bodies. Their bodies maintained some reptilian traits such as a cloaca. They instead excrete milk through pores that their young lap from. They do not have teats to nurse their young. Beside egg-laying, monotremes possess other traits that separate them from other mammals. There are exceptions to every rule, some reptiles and fish bear live young, and some mammals lay eggs.Įgg-laying mammals belong to a group called monotremes. We learn early on in school that what one of the distinguishing characteristics of mammals is that unlike birds, reptiles, and fish they bear live young.
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