Along with the Platypus, Echidnas are monotremes – which are the only mammals that lay eggs.

This waddling, well-camouflaged mammal is a very peculiar creature. Did you know a baby echidna is called a puggle? Or that adult echidnas make ‘snuffling’ noises when they hunt for food? There’s a lot to like about the Short-beaked Echidna.

Short-beaked vs Long-beaked Echidnas

While the Short-beaked Echidna is widespread in Australia, Long-beaked Echidnas are no longer present. Three species of Long-beaked Echidnas and the Short-beaked Echidna are all found in Papua New Guinea.¹

Where the Short-beaked Echidna is covered in dark fur, that's hidden beneath it's spines, Long-beaked Echidnas have less fur² and they feed mostly on worms and insect larvae, instead of the termites and ants, favoured by the Short-beaked Echidna.

Short-beaked Echidnas can grow up to 40cm and 7kg, but most are between 2kg and 5kg. Echidnas have a very keen sense of smell, useful in locating mates, detecting danger and snuffling for food. Their short limbs and shovel-like claws are perfect for digging out food and burrowing in the soil.

What do echidnas eat?

Their Latin name means ‘quick tongue’ (Tachyglossus) and ‘spiny’ (aculeatus). There’s good reason why their other common name is the Spiny Ant-eater.

Their snouts are rigid and strong, allowing them to break open logs and termite mounds.

Echidnas slurp up ants, termites and other insects with their sticky, saliva-covered tongues, which can be 17cm long!

Adults will sometimes also feast on earthworms, beetles and moth larvae. Without teeth to chew their prey, they grind food between their tongues and the bottoms of their mouths. Their tongues are so sticky that they accidentally consume a lot of dirt and their droppings are laced with soil.

Short-beaked Echidna. Photo Steve Parish.

A Short-beaked Echidna in open grasslands.

Echidna eating ants at Oura Oura Reserve (Tasmania)

Are echidnas endangered?

Short-beaked Echidnas are not endangered. They may be shy and infrequently seen, but they’re found across most of Australia and hold the title of Australia’s most widespread native mammal.² However, two of the three species of Long-beaked Echidnas (found in Papua New Guinea) are critically endangered, with the third Vulnerable according to the IUCN.¹ Threats include habitat loss, hunting and climate change.

Where do Short-beaked Echidnas live?

You can find echidnas slowly wandering around most regions from the arid zone to rainforests, coastal margins, tropics and snowy regions (where they hibernate during winter).

To survive extremes in weather echidnas burrow into the soil, hide under vegetation and shelter in hollow logs, rock crevices and in burrows created by wombats or rabbits.

They are most active when the temperature is between 16 and 20 degrees. So during hot summer days they'll be more active at night. Heat is more dangerous for them than cold, but they can stay cool in burrows, hollow logs and rocky crevices. They'll also seek water and go for a swim to cool down as they have no sweat glands.⁴

Amazingly, echidnas are good swimmers. They’ve been seen crossing rivers and beaches with their snouts in the air like snorkels!

Echidnas are solitary, wanderers: they have large, overlapping home ranges (up to 50 hectares) and only maintain a fixed address when rearing their young in a burrow. They are long-lived, able to survive 40 years or more in the wild.⁴

A group of echidnas in the Tasmanian midlands. Photo Matt Appleby.

Echidna behaviour

Without picking one up, it's virtually impossible to tell a male echidna from a female. Males are generally larger but most of the time they are solitary so there won't be a point of comparison. Between June and early September they find each other by following odour tracks and scent marks and come together (only to mate). ⁴

How do you know when echidnas are breeding? Just look for a female being trailed by one to ten males. This can last for weeks.

While it doesn’t sound romantic, the female has a lot of control - it's not until she lowers her spines that mating can occur, and it's often with the male that, through sheer tenacity, follows her longest!⁵

The female will then lay a single, leathery egg. Only 0.16 cm long, this tiny egg is incubated in her pouch. When the egg is the size of a jellybean, the young echidna – the puggle – hatches from the egg. It’s then carried in the mother’s pouch for about three months, where it suckles on her mammary glands.

The puggle leaves the pouch when it grows spines, at about three months old. Young stay and suckle from the mother until they’re weaned at about six months of age.

Threats to echidnas

The primary threat to echidnas is habitat loss, especially the loss of fallen logs, tree stumps and understorey vegetation. This limits their ability to forage, feed, breed and regulate their temperatures (especially in times of heat).⁴

As they move so slowly and can wander along roadsides looking for termites, echidnas are also vulnerable to being hit by vehicles.

Cats, dingoes, eagles, dogs and large goannas may eat young or young adults, but generally echidnas don’t have many natural predators.

If threatened, an echidna will curl into a ball (if on hard ground), lodge itself into a log or rock crevice, or quickly dig a shallow excavation, so that only its sharp spines are exposed – a very effective protection strategy.

How does Bush Heritage protect echidnas?

Echidnas occur on most of our reserve and partnership properties. Liffey Valley is home to the Tasmanian subspecies, which has a particularly furry coat to survive the cold. We protect echidna habitat by conserving native vegetation and hollow logs as well as protecting food sources in their natural state, such as ant nests and termite mounds.

Protecting natural bushland preserves potential burrowing or nesting sites such as piles of mulch, leaf litter or wood piles. We also manage total grazing pressure and control feral animals such as cats and wild dogs.

Bush Heritage also works alongside Traditional Custodians to care for landscapes, creating environments that support echidnas. Support our conservation efforts through habitat protection and conservation research, to ensure echidnas can thrive in Australia.