The echidna, spiny anteater or porcupineanteater is two genera of egg-laying, burrowing, nocturnal mammals of the family Tachyglossidae. They have no teeth, but a long extensile tongue. The echidna in size and general appearance resemble a large hedgehog, excepting that the spines are longer, and the muzzle is protracted and slender, with a small aperture at the extremity for the protraction of the long flexible tongue.
The Echidna feed on insects, which it catches by protruding its long sticky tongue. It is nearly allied to the Ornithorhynchus, the two forming a peculiar class of animals, having in their structure some peculiarities at once of mammals, birds, and reptiles. In 1884 it was found, that, as Geoffrey St Hilaire had suspected, the echidna and ornithorhynchus, although essentially mammals, were yet oviparous, producing their young from eggs.
Abbreviations
Research Echidna
