What is an echidna? Detailed answer

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What is an echidna? Detailed answer

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What is an echidna?

Echidna is one of the strangest animals you can see. The echidna has long claws, a tube-like snout, and a covering of short, hard spines reminiscent of those of a hedgehog or porcupine. But the strangest thing is that this mammal lays eggs! In addition, although it belongs to mammals, it, like birds, has only one outlet, which serves both for defecation and for laying eggs. Therefore, echidna and platypus are called bird animals. Echidna digs the ground and collects ants and insects, which serve as her main food.

Echidna is found in Australia and New Guinea. Her muzzle is elongated and narrow, in the shape of a tube. Her legs are short and powerful, equipped with long, curved claws that serve to dig up the ground. The echidna's tongue is long and sticky, capable of stretching far to catch an insect.

The echidna, which lives in New Guinea, can reach almost 80 centimeters in length, while the Australian variety is somewhat smaller. During periods of feeding, a bag is formed on the stomach of the echidna, which opens back.

No one can say exactly how the eggs get into this bag. But, most likely, when the female lays her eggs, she curls up in such a way that the eggs fall directly into this bag. She carries the eggs until the young hatch, and they live in a pouch until they get too crowded. Then the mother, going hunting, leaves them in some hole or somewhere in a secluded place.

In case of danger, the echidna immediately burrows into the ground right on the spot, and the enemy sees only its sharp needles in front of him. It only takes a few minutes for a echidna to burrow completely into the ground!

Author: Likum A.

Random interesting fact from the Great Encyclopedia:

How long is our intestines?

Most of us have a vague idea that somewhere inside us, the intestines are coiled up - the passage through which food moves through the process of digestion. But only a few really understand how it works. The length of the intestines in animals depends on the type of food they take. Carnivores have shorter intestines because they need fewer digestive aids to process food.

People who prefer to eat meat products have a shorter intestine than people who eat more vegetables. The length of the human intestine is about 3 m. But after the death of a person, due to post-mortem relaxation of the muscles, the intestine stretches up to 8,5 m. Basically, the intestinal walls consist of muscle fibers. This is necessary so that the intestines can process the food passing through it. In the intestines, food is mixed with certain secretions and passed on.

In order to do this, the small intestine forms a series of loop-like bends. Each loop holds food particles and recycles them. Mixing and digestion of food lasts about 30 minutes. Then the food moves into the next loop. Digestion is facilitated by the fact that the walls of the small intestine contain 20 million small glands. These glands produce 5 to 10 liters of digestive juice! Juices moisten and soften the food so that after a while it enters the large intestine in a semi-liquid state.

If you look at the walls of the intestine in a magnifying glass, you can see that they are not smooth, but similar to velveteen. The walls are covered with millions of small tentacle-like intestinal villi. The villi signal the glands when to pour out the digestive juices, and also carry out the function of absorbing nutrients.

Food that is not digested by juices is digested by bacteria living in the large intestine. This process is called decomposition. Billions of bacteria grind up the rough parts of the food we eat (such as the skins of fruits) and squeeze out essential nutrients. This is only a schematic description of how our intestines work. The intestine is a large organ that is extremely necessary for the body.

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