This amazing creature might seem like it belongs in some fantasy world but no! This very real animal lives in Austriala. It is basically a mix of a porcupine, anteater, playtapus, and kangroo with backwards feet. What's not to love!
Wierd Facts About The Echidna
- Echidna's can have different colored spines, some even being pure white or red
- They form mating trains during breeding season
- They lay eggs, one of 5 species to do so
- Like marisupals they have a pouch where they keep young
- They have a long tongue, around 15 cm long!
- They are surprisingly good swimmers, they use their snouts as snorkels
- Climbing is also an option
Food
Echidnas mainly eats ants and termites as they do not have teeth. Yea, that's right no teeth. Instead they have a 15 centimeter long tongue that they use to lap up bugs. Like an anteater they dig up ant hills. Their long tongues can navigate the tunnels in the hill and all the ants/termites it comes across get stuck to it to be eventually brought back for a slow and painful death.
Protection
As you would expect the echidna uses its spines as a method of defense. It can not shoot its spines out but it can curl into a ball so the predator can not reach them. They do have fur underneath the spikes to keep warm. Like mentioned before the spines can vary in color, they are often brown/yellow color but there have been echidnas that have been all white, red, or fully yellow.
Another cool thing that echidnas do is that they will curl into a ball when attacked and dig into the ground that way only the spines are accessible. Making it near impossible for predators to flip them over. This is the reason that the echidnas back feet face backwards, this helps them dig quicker. It is said that an echidna can dig a hole as quickly as a human with a shovel.