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echidna
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short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) Short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus setosus) with spiny brown fur foraging on rocky ground among plants on Bruny Island, Tasmania. western long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus bruijni) Short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) Short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) puggles
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short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus)
echidna summary
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short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus)
short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) Short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus).

echidna

monotreme
Also known as: Tachyglossidae, spiny anteater
Written by
Anne Marie Musser
Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia. Author of scientific publications on monotremes.
Anne Marie Musser
Fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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echidna, (family Tachyglossidae), any of four species of peculiar egg-laying mammals from Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea that eat and breathe through a bald tubular beak protruding from a dome-shaped body covered in spines. Echidnas have beady eyes and mere slits for ears, and at the end of their beaks are two small nares (or nostrils) and a tiny mouth. Electroreceptors in the skin of the beak may sense electrical signals produced by the muscles...

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