Тікенді еліктер: Австралия мен Жаңа Гвинеяның жұмыртқа туатын сүтқоректілері

Family of mammals

Echidnas (/ᵻ/'/k//ɪ//d//n//ə//z/), sometimes known as spiny anteaters, monotremes (egg laying mammals) belonging to the family Tachyglossidae /t//æ//k//i//'//g//l//Q//s//ᵻ//d//iː/, living in Australia and New Guinea. The four extant species of echidnas and the platypus are the only living mammals that lay eggs and the only surviving members of the order Monotremata.

Echidnas are medium sized, solitary mammals covered with coarse hair and spines. This is similar to the platypus, which has 40,000 electroreceptors on its bill, but the long beaked echidna has only 2,000, while the short beaked echidna, which lives in a drier environment, has no more than 400 at the tip of its snout. The first European drawing of an echidna was made in Adventure Bay, Tasmania by 's third lieutenant George Tobin during William Bligh's second breadfruit voyage.

The short beaked echidna's diet consists mostly of ants and termites, while the Zaglossus (long beaked) species typically eat worms and insect larvae. Echidnas' faeces are long and are cylindrical in shape; they are usually broken and unrounded, and composed largely of dirt and ant hill material.

Echidnas do not tolerate extreme temperatures; they shelter from harsh weather in caves and rock crevices. Echidnas are found in forests and woodlands, hiding under vegetation, roots or piles of debris. They sometimes use the burrows (both abandoned and in use) of animals such as rabbits and wombats. Individual echidnas have large, mutually overlapping territories. Due to their low metabolism and accompanying stress resistance, echidnas are long lived for their size; the longest recorded lifespan for a captive echidna is 50 years, with anecdotal accounts of wild individuals reaching 45 years. Contrary to previous research, the echidna does enter REM sleep, but only in a comfortable temperature around 25 °C (77 °F). At lower or higher temperatures of 15 °C (59 °F) and 28 °C (82 °F), REM sleep is suppressed. and is about long. While hatching, the baby echidna opens the leather shell with a reptile like egg tooth. Hatching takes place after 10 days of gestation; the young echidna, called a puggle, born larval and fetus like, then sucks milk from the pores of the two milk patches (monotremes have no nipples) and remains in the pouch for 45 to 55 days, During mating, the heads on one side "shut down" and do not grow in size; the other two are used to release semen into the female's two branched reproductive tract. Each time it copulates, it alternates heads in sets of two. These may be used to induce ovulation in the female. It is a challenge to study the echidna in its natural habitat, and they show no interest in mating while in captivity. Prior to 2007, no one had ever seen an echidna ejaculate. There have been previous attempts, trying to force the echidna to ejaculate through the use of electrically stimulated ejaculation in order to obtain semen samples but this has only resulted in the penis swelling. Most findings from genetics studies (especially of nuclear genes) are in agreement with the paleontological dating, but some other evidence, like mitochondrial DNA, give slightly different dates. Molecular clock data suggest echidnas split from platypuses between 19 and 48 million years ago, so that platypus like fossils dating back to over 112.5 million years ago represent basal forms, rather than close relatives of the modern platypus.

The Kunwinjku people of Western Arnhem Land (Australia) call the echidna ngarrbek, and regard it as a prized food and "good medicine"Reverend Peterson Nganjmirra, personal comment. The echidna is hunted at night, gutted, and filled with hot stones and mandak (Persoonia falcata) leaves. According to Larrakia elders Una Thompson and Stephanie Thompson Nganjmirra, once captured, an echidna is carried attached to the wrist like a thick bangle.

The echidna appears on the reverse of the Australian five cent coin. An echidna named Millie was one of the three official mascots for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. The Sonic the Hedgehog franchise features a race of antropomorphic echidnas, the most proeminent being Knuckles.