all areas marked with the colour orange on the Australian map are habitats to the short beaked echidna
ENVIRONMENT: The Short-beaked echidna is found throughout the Australian main land as well as Tasmania. The short beaked echidna lives in a variety of habitats, from semi-aired (areas usually dominated by either grasses or shrubs) to snowy high-altitude areas, including woodlands, forests, Australian deserts and meadows. The short-beaked echidna usually shelters in rotten logs, tree roots, caves, burrows, stumps or under bushes. These tiny marsupials are able to endure extreme temperature variations due to their ability to find/burrow housing to shelter themselves. Short beaked echidnas can survive in temperatures from as low as 0 degrees Celsius to as high as 38 degrees Celsius. though these extreme conditions are not ideal the short beaked echidna has found ways to adapt to these conditions. when faced with higher temperatures the short beaked echidna tends to burrow during the day and come out to feed during the night time, when the temperature is cooler. Therefore in certain parts of Australia the short beaked echidna is nocturnal during the summer months.
CHALLENGES: Short beaked echidnas live in almost all of the habitats in Australia, due to the echidnas living in such a diverse range of environments there are several challenges that impact the short beaked echidna. Factors that could effect the survival of the short beaked echidna are introduced and Australian predators, human impact, parasites, and diseases. The short beaked echidna has few natural enemies.
The most common challenges to the short beaked echidna include motor vehicles and habitat destruction which are human impacted influences. With increase numbers of cars and other motor vehicles on the road each year the number of road kill also increases. When humans clear land for property development, making new roads or farming the short beaked echidnas are only affected in the short term, unless they are killed in the process, as echidnas live in a variety of different Australian environments and can migrate short distances.
Introduced and Australian animals such as domestic dogs, foxes, cats, dingos, Tasmanian devils, lizards, goannas, birds and snakes all impact the survival of the short beaked echidna. Snakes who lie in the same environments as short beaked echidnas do are threats to the echidna species, as they slither into the echidnas burrows and prey on the young echidnas (the young echidnas are spineless therefore they can not get their body to curl up into a ball so their spikes can protect them). Dingoes are known to kill echidnas by rolling them over onto their backs and attacking their underbellies.
The introduction of the waterborne infection known as, parasitic tapeworm (are small animals which can live inside the body) is considered to be fatal to the echidna. This disease is contacted through sharing drinking areas with infected animals that do not die from the parasite (such as cats, dogs, foxes, dingos).
ADAPTATIONS: Behavioral Adaptations: -Echidna’s use their front paws to dig into ants nests to find food and use their fast tongues to trap them. -Echidna’s young are pushed out of their pouch whilst still young so their growing spikes do not penetrate and hurt the mother. -Female echidnas dig burrows for their young once the young echidna starts to develop its spines, and the mother cannot carry it in her ‘pouch’ for any longer. -When the echidnas are threatened, they can dig very quickly into the earth, where they disappear horizontally. Therefore protecting them from what they are threatened by. -When an echidna is threatened, they may also roll into a ball so that only their spines are showing. This protects their soft belly and scars off any predators with their spikes. -Echidnas are capable of diving underwater in sudden floods. Although they cannot swim for a long period they can survive sudden floods, when they dive their heart rate drops, this allows them to preserve oxygen.
Physiological Adaptations: Short beaked echidnas have numerous physiological adaptations to aid their lifestyle. Short beaked echidnas burrow, therefore they must be able to tolerate very high levels of carbon dioxide in enthused air and will willingly remain in places where carbon dioxide concentration are high. This is useful when bush fires occur as there is a low level of oxygen. The short beaked echidna can dig up to a metre into the ground to retrieve ants, termites or worms or avoid predators. The short beaked echidna can also dive under water when flash floods occur. During these situations the short beaked echidnas heart rate drops, which saves oxygen needed by the brain and the heart. During breeding season the female short beaked echidnas develop a pouch, where she lays and raises her young. This pouch protects her babies from predators such as goannas. Short beaked echidnas have a long tongue with sticky saliva, with which they eats termites and ants. They also have a long snout which makes it easy for food.
Structural Adaptations: Short beaked echidnas have numerous structural adaptations to aid their lifestyle. The short beaked echidna has short limbs and sharp claws that are used for rapid digging, their short, powerful limbs allow them to tear apart large logs and move paving stones. The power of their limbs comes from their strong muscular shoulder and torso area. Short beaked echidnas can change shape, the most typical shape change being achieved by rolling itself into a ball when threatened, this protects the echidnas belly and helps scare off predators by presenting a defensive display of sharp spines. Due to the fact that the short beaked echidna has one of the shortest spinal cords of any mammal (extending as far as the thorax) this is believed to allow its flexibility to wrap into a ball. The claws located on the back feet are lengthened and curved backward to enable cleaning and grooming between the spines. The short beaked echidna does not pant of sweat; due to the inability to sweat echidnas still lose water through exhalation.
The short beaked echidna has a very muscular face, jaw and tongue, which all aid in allowing the echidna to feed. The tongue is the single means of the echidna catching its prey. . The short beaked echidnas tongue is coated in glycoprotein-rich mucus, which makes the tongue sticky. This mucus on the tongue lubricates movement in and out of the snout and helps to catch ants and termites. The projected tongue is hardened by the rapid flow of blood, allowing it to break through wood and soil. The tongue moves very fast, with great speed, this is achieved through the elasticity of the tongue and the adaptation of elastic potential energy into kinetic energy. The tongue is so flexible that is can bend in a U-turn shape and catch insects that make an attempt to escape. The short beaked echidnas tongue also has the ability to avoid picking up splinters while scavenging in logs and other woods. The short beaked echidna’s snout shape is like a double wedge. This gives it a significant mechanical advantage; this makes it easier for the echidna for digging, to reach prey or to build a shelter.
RHYTHMIC PATTERNS: Short beaked echidna are usually active in the daytime; however during the warmer months the short beaked echidna change their pattern of activity, becoming nocturnal (active at night) or crepuscular (active at dawn or dusk). Short beaked echidnas do not have sweat glands and can not pant, therefore body temperatures above 34°C can be fatal. In addition to avoiding heat, the animal adjusts its circulation to maintain a sustainable temperature by moving blood to and from the skin to increase or lower heat loss.
FACTS: -They're toothless but make up for it with their tongues
-Echidnas are mammals without nipples. female short beaked chidnas feed there young with milk from a special gland in their pouches called milk patches that secrete milk, which the puggle laps up.