Echidna Information and Facts

Echidna information, facts and some Echidna statistics

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Echidna Facts

Echidna’s scientific name is Tachyglossus aculeatus (spiny fast-tongue or Spiny anteater).
Echidna's lifespan is over 45 years
Echidnas grow up to 50cm (20") in length
Their tongue is very long and sticky and is perfect for catching the hundreds of termites and ants that make up their staple diet
Each of the echidna’s spines is formed from a single hair
An echidna can lift objects twice its weight
Echidnas drink water and can swim
Like the male Platypus, the male echidna has spurs, but has no venom glands attached to them
Echidna is slightly less intelligent than a cat
Mating takes place Belly-to-belly, which avoids the male spiking himself on the female’s spines

The echidna is best known not only as a mascot of Sydney Olympic Games 2000, but also for its amazing biology. Like the platypus, this unusual mammal lays eggs and suckles its young. The echidna and platypus are the only members of a primitive group of mammals known as monotremes.

Found all over Australia, the short-beaked Echidna is covered with sharp spines and has strong legs and claws.

Echidnas are widely distributed throughout Australia and Tasmania. Although not commonly seen, they are not considered threatened. They live in a wide variety of habitats, from cold mountainous peaks to deserts.

They usually found in places with a good supply of ants and termites, where it lies on an ant-mound, sticks out its tongue and lets ants walk onto it. Echidnas have no teeth. It crushes its insect food between horny plates on its tongue and the roof of its mouth.

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