Echidnas
Echidnas are monotremes. Monotremes mean one hole for laying eggs and going to the bathroom. Other monotremes are platypuses.
When echidnas are threatened, they either dig a hole and burrow, or roll up in a ball and stick out their spikes. (In the picture on the left, I’m feeling Edwina’s spikes at the Platypus and Echidna House on Kangaroo Island in Australia.) Echidnas often get hit by cars because they roll up in a ball on the road instead of running away from the car.
Echidnas eats ants and termites. They stick their snout into an anthill and lick up ants with their long tongue. In the wild, we saw an echidna eating ants (picture right). Not a lot of things eat echidnas because of their spikes, but mostly cars run over them.
Echidnas mate between June and September. Up to eight males follow the female echidna in a train. Then, the female chooses a mate. Fourteen days after mating, the echidna lays one egg. When the egg hatches, she carries her baby around in her pouch for ten days. Then, they put their baby into their burrow. They come back to give their baby milk every five to ten days.
Echidnas are my favorite animal, and that’s why I did a report on them.
