Echidnas

Names & Nicknames: Echidnas, spiny anteaters, porcupine anteaters

Size: Now, this depends on your echidna species. The short-beaked echidna is not just short in name but in nature, measuring around 30-45cm in length and 2-7kg in weight. If you want the real heavyweights, you have to travel to New Guinea to find the three long-beaked echidna species. Although Attenborough's long-beaked echidna isn't much bigger than the short-beaked, the Eastern and Western long-beaked echidnas are much bigger, with the Western long-beaked echidna growing to 77.5cm and 16.5kg - like a medium-sized dog!

Smell: Those snouts aren't just for looking pretty; when it comes to mating seasons, both male and female echidnas start producing a pungent odour, similar to a mix of wet dog and must.

Communication: Echidnas were long thought to only communicate through smells; they certainly do that, producing smelly secretions made up of over 180 chemical compounds from their cloaca (their butt, basically) and little spurs on their hind ankles. However, it was recently discovered that this isn't all they get up to, as they were recorded for the first time vocalising with a series of grunting, wheezing, and cooing sounds.

Favourite Hangout: Short-beaked echidnas have truly conquered down under. They are found all across Australia, from snow-capped mountains to urban environments, forests, grasslands, and the island of Tasmania. They have even made their way to the island of New Guinea, where their long-beaked cousins can be found. Long-beaked echidnas are found exclusively on the island of New Guinea, primarily in tropical hill forests, mountain forests, and upper grasslands.

Favourite Snack: It's a popular myth that echidnas only eat ants and termites; they are also called spiny anteaters after all. And although they do indeed love an anty snack, they also eat a range of other invertebrates such as beetles, worms, and insect larvae.

Eating Habits: Echidas use their strong snouts to ruffle through the undergrowth and break into insect nests in the hunt for tasty morsels. They use their long, sticky tongue, a bit like a pangolin's, to snaffle up any unsuspecting invertebrate. They don't have any teeth, so they grind up the bugs between their tongues and the bottom of their mouths.

Toilet Humour: You can learn a lot about an animal from its poo: what it's been eating, if it's pregnant, or if it had an extra spicy vindaloo the night before (okay maybe that last one is not so relevant). Echidna poo is pretty distinctive; it's a long cylinder about 7cm in length, often containing little bits of insect. If you do spot some, don't just ignore it. Organisations like EchidnaCSI would love you to send in the smelly samples to keep in their freezer so they can learn more about echidnas!

Love Language: Short-beaked echidnas are pretty persistent lovers and have been known to form 'echida trains'. This behaviour, where male echidnas form a line and follow a female, is thought to be their form of courtship. Less is known about the long-beaked echidna's love language, but we do know that they, as well as short-beaked echidnas, are well equipped. Male echidnas are endowed with a spectacular four-headed penis that he uses, two heads at a time, to ensure the most 'productive' love making.

If you see them: Echidnas are generally pretty shy and would like to be left alone to munch on tasty insects. So if you do see one, make sure your pets are contained, as one of the main threats to echidnas is predation by invasive cats and dogs!

Red Flags: The short-beaked echidnas, despite threats from invasive cats and dogs, habitat loss, and road collisions, are actually doing pretty well and are widespread throughout the habitat. The same, unfortunately, cannot be said for their long-beaked cousins. The Eastern long-beaded echidna is considered vulnerable, and both the western long-beaked and Attenborough's long-beaked echidna are critically endangered. The major threats to the long-beaked oddballs are habitat loss and being hunted by humans for their meat.

Epic Journeys: Echidas don't necessarily migrate, but this doesn't stop them from travelling vast distances, potentially several kilometres each day in search of the juiciest grubs.

Glow-up: Potentially the single weirdest fact about these wonderfully weird creatures is that despite being mammals, echidnas lay eggs. A female will lay a soft-shelled, leathery egg in a temporary pouch that will hatch after around 10 days. What emerges is a baby echidna, known as a puggle, about the size of a jellybean. A female echidna doesn't actually have nipples (yet more weirdness), but instead, the puggle will suck on milk from the pores of two milk patches. This milk is incredibly rich in iron to help the young puggle grow, so rich in fact that the milk is pink in colour! After around 50 days in the pouch, the puggle will develop its spines, and the mother will dig it a nursery burrow where it will stay for around 7 months as the mother returns every 5 days or so to feed it up with more milk. Eventually, the mother will stop returning, and it's time for the young echidna to venture out into the world independently. This is at least the case for short-beaked echidnas, and it is probably the same or at least very similar for their long-beaked cousins.

Facts: For a long time, it was believed that there were only three species of echidna still roaming around. Or so we thought! Attenborough's long-beaked echidna was presumed to have gone extinct over 60 years ago, before it was extraordinarily found again by a research team using camera traps in the Cyclops Mountains of New Guinea in 2023.

Who are they in the friendship group: A bit of an oddball.