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Echidna's is like the platypus they are both monotremes which are mammals that only have
one opening for their eggs and their body waste.
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The Echidna likes to live alone. The only time when they meet other echidnas is in winter when they
want to mate with others.
The female leaves a scent behind her when she go out to search for food
so the male can find her.
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THEIR EGGS
The femal echidna only lays one egg at a time. When the female lays the egg she lies on
her back, so when it comes out it rolls down into her pouch. Then it stays there until its hatched. There
eggs aren't like birds egg there more like the lizard & platypuses
eggs, there soft and
leathery.
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GREAT DIGGERS
The echidna is a great diggers, thats one of
the ways the escape from danger. They
use
their very strong claws to dig into the ground.
They almost sink into the ground in just a
couple of minuets.
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NO TEATS
Like the platypus the female has no teats, so the milk oozes out
of the skin onto a patch
of fur then the babies lick it up. This patch is called a milk patch. The baby dosen't even have to leave
the pouch to get its milk.
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A SPINEY BACK
The echidnas back is covered with spines which it sometimes uses for self-defence.
When it is being attacked it rolls up in a small ball to avoid injury. The hedge hog does the same thing
for self-defence.
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Echidnas eat ants. they have a long nose to help them search around for ants, termites and other small
insects. They hve strong claws so they can break and dig open nets. They have a sticky tongue to sweep
up all the ants because theres so many of them if they didn't have a sticky tongue it would take them
a while to eat them all.
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