ECHIDNAS and PLATYPUS
Mammal       -    Vertebrate       -      Carnivore
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DUCK-BILLED PLATYPUS
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ECHIDNA
Male:  Boar
Female:  Sow
Young:  Puddle
​ECHIDNAS
  • An egg-laying mammal with a pouch.
  • Both males and females have a pouch.
  • The female lays an egg and carefully puts it in her pouch.
  • Ten days later, the egg hatches and will stay in the pouch, feeding on milk, for the next two months.
  • Commonly called a spiny anteater..
  • Look like a cross between a hedgehog and an anteater.
  • Has a long snout, and a long sticky tongue..
  • Has a tongue 60cm long.
  • Features on the reverse side of the Australian five-cent coin.
  • Millie, an Echidna, was a mascot the the 2000 Summer Olympics.

The Duck-Billed Platypus
  • Also lays eggs, lactates but has no nipples.
  • Is semi-aquatic.
  • Legs are short, but powerful, and has webbed feet, and the digits have large claws which are useful for burrowing.
  • Hunts via electricity.
  • Each ankle of the male platypus, there is a spur which is connected to poison-glands in its thighs.
  • Has a venom with 80 different kinds of toxins, but is not poisonous to man.
  • Eats small freshwater animals which it hunts at night.
  • ​Can live for up to 17 years.

Short-beaked Echidna
  • Has a compact, round body, closely set with spines.
  • At the end of its snout is a small, slit-like mouth, through which its long tongue is extended.
  • Have no teeth.
  • Eats mainly ants and termites

Long-beaked Echidna
  • Is larger than the short-beaked Echidna.
  • Has fewer spines and its snouth is two-thirds the length of its head and curves slightly downwards.
  • Have no teeth.
  • Eats mainly worms and insect larvae.