Oviparous - belong to the class of mammals, a subclass of cloacae. Among all known vertebrates, monotremes are the most primitive. The squad got its name due to the presence of a special characteristic among the representatives. Oviparous have not yet adapted to live birth and lay eggs to reproduce offspring, and after the babies are born, they feed them with milk.

Biologists believe that monotremes came from reptiles, as an offshoot of a group of mammals, even before the birth of marsupials and placental animals.

Platypus - a representative of egg-laying

The structure of the skeleton of the limbs, the head section, the organs of the circulatory system, the breathing of the first animals and reptiles is similar. in the fossils mesozoic era the remains of oviparous were found. Monotremes then inhabited the territory of Australia, and later occupied the South American expanses and Antarctica.

To date, the first animals can only be found in Australia and the islands located nearby.

Origin and diversity of mammals. Oviparous and real animals.

The ancestors of mammals are reptiles of the Paleozoic. This fact confirms the similarity in the structure of reptiles and mammals, especially at the stages of embryogenesis.

In the Permian period, a group of theriodonts, the ancestors of modern mammals, was formed. Their teeth were placed in the recesses of the jaw. Most animals possessed a bony palate.

However, the conditions environment, formed in the Mesozoic era, contributed to the development of reptiles and they became the dominant group of animals. But the climate of the Mesozoic soon changed dramatically and the reptiles failed to adapt to the new conditions, and mammals occupied the main niche of the animal world.

The mammal class is divided into 2 subclasses:

  • Subclass First Beasts or Single Pass;
  • subclass Real animals.

Real animals and monotremes are united by a number of signs: hairy or needle outer covering, mammary glands, hard palate. Also, the first animals have common characteristics with reptiles and birds: the presence of a cloaca, laying eggs, and a similar skeletal structure.

Detachment Single pass - general characteristics


Echidna is a representative of monotremes

Oviparous animals are not large sizes with a flattened body from top to bottom, short limbs with large claws and a leathery beak. They have small eyes short tail. In oviparous, the external auricle is not developed.

Only representatives of the platypus family have teeth and they look like flat plates equipped with protrusions along the edge. The stomach is only for storing food; the intestines are responsible for digesting food. Salivary glands very developed, large, the stomach passes into the caecum, which, together with the urogenital sinus, flows into the cloaca.

The first animals do not have a real uterus and placenta. Reproduction by laying eggs, there is little yolk in them, and the shell includes keratin. The mammary glands have many ducts that open on the ventral side in special glandular fields, since there are no nipples in monotremes.

Body temperature can vary: it does not rise above 36 ° C, but with a significant cooling it can drop to 25 ° C. Echidnas and platypuses do not make sounds, as they lack vocal cords. The life expectancy of an echidna is about 30 years, platypuses - about 10. They inhabit forests, steppes with shrubs and are even found in highlands(at an altitude of up to 2500m.).

Representatives of oviparous have poisonous glands. On the hind limbs there is a bone spur through which a poisonous secret flows. The poison is potent, in many animals it provokes disruption of the functioning of vital organs, it is also dangerous for humans - it causes severe pain and extensive swelling at the site of the lesion.

Trapping and hunting for representatives of the detachment is prohibited, as they are listed in the Red Book due to the threat of extinction.

Platypus and Echidna

The platypus and echidna are oviparous, mammals, the only representatives of the order.


A small animal about 30-40 cm long (body), tail up to 15 cm, weighing 2 kg. Males are always larger than females. It lives near water bodies.

Five-fingered limbs are well suited for digging the ground, on the coast, platypuses dig holes for themselves about 10 meters in length, equipping them for later life (one entrance is underwater, the other is a couple of meters above the water level). The head is equipped with a beak, like a duck (hence the name of the animal).

Platypuses are in the water for 10 hours, where they get food: aquatic vegetation, worms, crustaceans and molluscs. Swimming membranes between the toes on the front paws (almost not developed on the hind legs) allow the platypus to swim well and quickly. When the animal dives under water, the eyes and ear openings close, but the platypus can navigate the water through sensitive nerve endings in its beak. He even has electroreception.

Platypuses bear cubs for a month and give offspring from one to three eggs. First, the female incubates them for 10 days, and then feeds them with milk for about 4 months, and at the age of 5 months, the platypuses, already capable of independent life, leave the hole.


Oviparous mammals also include echidna, found in forests appearance looks like a hedgehog. To obtain food, the echidna digs the ground with powerful claws and, with the help of a long and sticky tongue, receives the necessary food (termites, ants).

The body is covered with spines that protect it from predators; when danger approaches, the echidna curls up into a ball and becomes inaccessible to enemies. The female weighs approximately 5kg and lays an egg weighing 2g. Echidna hides the egg in a bag formed by a leathery fold in the abdominal region and wears it, heating it with its warmth, for two weeks. A newborn cub is born with a mass of 0.5 g, continues to live in the mother's pouch, where it is fed with milk.

After 1.5 months, the echidna leaves the pouch, but continues to live in a hole under the protection of its mother. After 7-8 months, the baby is already able to find food on its own and differs from the adult only in size.

Order - Monotremes / Family - Echidnas / Genus - True echidnas

History of study

The Australian echidna (lat. Tachyglossus aculeatus) is an egg-laying mammal of the echidna family. This is the only representative of the true echidna genus Tachyglossus; sometimes its subspecies, the Tasmanian echidna, stands out as a separate species - Tachyglossus setosus.

The Australian echidna was first described in 1792 by the English zoologist George Shaw (who described the platypus a few years later). Shaw gave it the name Myrmecophaga aculeata, mistakenly classifying this strange long-nosed animal caught on an anthill as an anteater. Ten years later, anatomist Edward Home discovered in echidna and platypus common feature- cloaca, into which the intestines, ureters and genital tract open. Based on this feature, a detachment of monotremes was singled out.

Echidna successively changed several more names - Ornithorhynchus hystrix, Echidna hystrix, Echidna aculeate, until it received the current one - Tachyglossus aculeatus. Its generic name in Greek means "quick language"; specific - "prickly".

Spreading

Lives throughout Australia, as well as in New Guinea, Tasmania, and on the islands located in the Bass Strait. The habitat is the plains, moist forests, mountains, and even cities.

Appearance

Outwardly, the animal most of all looks like a hedgehog - its entire body is covered with hard coarse hairs, and its sides and back are studded with long, 5-6 cm each, yellow needles with black tips. In length Australian echidna grows up to 50 cm, while having a weight of up to 7 kg. The tail and auricles are so small that they are practically invisible.

The muzzle of the echidna is very elongated, up to 7.5 cm in length, and plays extremely important role in the life of an animal, since his eyesight is poorly developed, and the environment is known mostly through smell and hearing. The mouth, which is a very small hole at the end of the muzzle, has no teeth, but it does fit a sticky tongue that is 25 cm long.

The absence of teeth is compensated by the presence of hard pads in the back of the mouth, on which food is rubbed. In addition, along with food, earth and sand enter the stomach, which contribute to the final grinding of the prey.

reproduction

Echidnas live so secretly that their features marital behavior and breedings were published only in 2003, after 12 years of field observations. It turned out that during the courtship period, which lasts from May to September (in different parts range, the time of its onset varies), these animals are kept in groups consisting of a female and several males. Both females and males at this time emit a strong musky smell, allowing them to find each other. The group feeds and rests together; when crossing, echidnas follow in single file, forming a "train" or caravan. Ahead is a female, followed by males, which can be 7-10. Courtship lasts up to 4 weeks. When the female is ready to mate, she lies down, and the males begin to circle around her, throwing clods of earth aside. After some time, a real trench 18-25 cm deep forms around the female. The males violently push each other, pushing them out of the trench until one victorious male remains inside the ring. If there was only one male, the trench is straight. Mating (on the side) lasts about an hour.

Pregnancy lasts 21-28 days. The female builds a brood burrow, a warm, dry chamber often dug under an empty anthill, termite mound, or even under a pile of garden debris next to human habitation. Usually in the clutch there is one leathery egg with a diameter of 13-17 mm and weighing only 1.5 g. For a long time it remained a mystery how the echidna moves the egg from the cloaca to the brood pouch - its mouth is too small for this, and its paws are clumsy. Presumably, postponing it, the echidna deftly curls up into a ball; while the skin on the abdomen forms a fold that releases a sticky fluid. As it freezes, it glues the egg that has rolled onto its stomach and at the same time shapes the bag.

After 10 days, a tiny cub hatches: it is 15 mm long and weighs only 0.4-0.5 g. When it hatches, it breaks the egg shell with the help of a horny bump on the nose, an analogue of the egg tooth of birds and reptiles. The eyes of a newborn echidna are hidden under the skin, and the hind legs are practically not developed. But the front paws already have well-defined fingers. With their help, the newborn moves from the back of the bag to the front in about 4 hours, where there is a special area of ​​​​skin called the milky field, or areola. In this area, 100-150 pores of the mammary glands open; each pore is provided with a modified hair. When the cub squeezes these hairs with his mouth, milk enters his stomach. The high iron content gives echidna milk pink color.

Young echidnas grow very quickly, in just two months increasing their weight by 800-1000 times, that is, up to 400 g. The cub remains in the mother's pouch for 50-55 days - until the age when it develops spines. After that, the mother leaves him in a shelter and until the age of 5-6 months comes to feed every 5-10 days. In total, milk feeding lasts 200 days. Between 180 and 240 days of life, the young echidna leaves the hole and begins to lead an independent life. Puberty occurs at 2-3 years of age. Echidna breeds only once every two years or less; according to some reports - once every 3-7 years. But the low rate of reproduction is compensated by her long lifespan. In nature, the echidna lives up to 16 years; the recorded longevity record at the zoo is 45 years.

Lifestyle

Australian echidnas can live in almost any part of the mainland, regardless of the landscape. Both wet forests and arid areas, both mountains and plains, can become their home. Even in cities, they are not so rare.

True, echidnas do not tolerate heat and cold well, because they do not have sweat glands. In hot weather, they become lethargic, and when low temperatures fall into hibernation, which can last 4 months. During this period, they use up their subcutaneous fat reserves.

Echidnas love to eat well and eat a lot. To do this, they can walk quite long distances without stopping and resting, which can reach 10-15 kilometers per day.

Echidnas are loners by nature. They unite in groups only with the beginning of the mating season, and then scatter again. They do not protect their territory, they do not build a permanent shelter. Echidnas are free and free to travel wherever they please. For sleep and rest, any secluded place is suitable for them, whether it is a hole between the roots of trees, a crevice between stones, a hollow fallen trees etc.

They move a little awkwardly. But they swim very well. Echidnas are able to swim across small bodies of water.

Nutrition

Echidnas feed mainly on ants and termites, which they get by tearing the ground and termite mounds with their powerful claws. These animals do not disdain other insects and earthworms. And although the echidna has no teeth, but on the back of its tongue there are horny teeth that rub against the comb-like palate and grind the prey. With the help of the tongue, the echidna swallows not only food, but also small pebbles and particles of soil, which, getting into the stomach, serve as millstones for the final grinding of prey - just as it happens in birds.

population

The Australian echidna is common in Australia and Tasmania and is not an endangered species. It is less affected by land clearing, since the Australian echidna does not impose on habitats special requirements apart from enough food.

Australian echidna and man

Echidnas do well in captivity, but do not breed. Only five zoos managed to get the offspring of the Australian echidna, but in no case did the young grow to adulthood.

The Australian echidna is depicted on the 5 cent coin and on the $200 commemorative coin issued in Australia in 1992. Millie the echidna was one of the mascots of the Summer olympic games 2000 in Sydney.

Australian echidna- an egg-laying mammal of the echidna family. This is the only representative of the genus of true echidnas.

The Australian echidna was first described in 1792 by the English zoologist George Shaw (who described the platypus a few years later). Shaw mistakenly classified this strange, long-nosed animal caught on an anthill as an anteater. Ten years later, anatomist Edward Home discovered a common feature in echidna and platypus - the cloaca, into which the intestines, ureters and genital tract open. Based on this feature, a detachment of monotremes was singled out.

The Australian echidna is smaller than the prochidna: its usual length is 30-45 cm, weight is from 2.5 to 5 kg. The Tasmanian subspecies is somewhat larger - up to 53 cm. The head of the echidna is covered with coarse hair; the neck is short, almost invisible from the outside. The auricles are not visible. The muzzle of the echidna is elongated into a narrow "beak" 75 mm long, straight or slightly curved.

Like the platypus, the "beak" of the echidna is richly innervated. Its skin contains both mechanoreceptors and special electroreceptor cells; with their help, the echidna picks up weak vibrations electric field arising from the movement of small animals. Not a single mammal, apart from echidnas and platypuses, has had such an electrolocation organ.

Echidna's limbs are shortened. The fingers are equipped with powerful flat claws, adapted for digging the earth and breaking the walls of termite mounds. In females, after giving birth, a brood pouch appears on the abdomen.

The Australian echidna is found in Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea and the islands in the Bass Strait. Five subspecies are known.

This is a terrestrial animal, although if necessary it is able to swim and cross fairly large bodies of water. Echidna is found in any landscape that provides it with enough food - from wet forests to dry bush and even deserts. It is also found in mountainous areas, where snow lies part of the year, and on agricultural lands, and even in the metropolitan suburbs. Echidna is active mainly during the day, however hot weather makes her switch to a nocturnal lifestyle. Echidna is poorly adapted to heat, since it does not have sweat glands, and its body temperature is very low - 30-32 ° C. When hot or cold weather she becomes lethargic; with a strong cold snap, it hibernates for up to 4 months. Stocks of subcutaneous fat allow her, if necessary, to starve for a month or more.

Echidna feeds on ants, termites, less often other insects, small mollusks and worms.

Echidna leads a solitary lifestyle (with the exception of the mating season). This is not a territorial animal - echidnas encountered simply ignore each other; it does not suit permanent burrows and nests. For rest, the echidna settles in any convenient place - under the roots, stones, in the hollows of fallen trees. The echidna runs badly. Its main defense is thorns; a disturbed echidna rolls up into a ball, like a hedgehog, and if it has time, it partially burrows into the ground, exposing its back to the enemy with raised needles.

Among the predators that prey on echidnas are Tasmanian devils, as well as cats, foxes and dogs introduced by people. Humans rarely pursue her, as the skin of the echidna is of little value and the meat is not particularly tasty. The sounds that an alarmed echidna makes are reminiscent of soft grunts.

Pregnancy lasts 21-28 days. The female builds a brood burrow, a warm, dry chamber often dug under an empty anthill, termite mound, or even under a pile of garden debris next to human habitation. Usually there is one leathery egg in a clutch.

In nature, the echidna lives up to 16 years; the recorded longevity record at the zoo is 45 years.

The Australian echidna is common in Australia and Tasmania and is not an endangered species. It is less affected by land clearing, since the Australian echidna does not place special requirements on habitats, in addition to sufficient food. The main danger for her is t vehicles and habitat destruction leading to range fragmentation. Animals brought by colonists prey on echidnas.

Echidnas do well in captivity, but do not breed. Only five zoos managed to get the offspring of the Australian echidna, but in no case did the young grow to adulthood.

The Australian echidna is featured on the 5 cent coin and on the $200 commemorative coin issued in Australia in 1992. Millie the Echidna was one of the mascots for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

Echidna- a unique creation of nature. It's really true! The origin of these unique animals has been studied very superficially and many questions about their life are controversial and are still considered open.

  • in appearance, the echidna looks like a hedgehog or, it also has almost the entire body covered with needles;
  • echidna lays eggs to continue its kind, which is more typical for birds;
  • she bears her offspring in a special bag, just as kangaroos do;
  • but she eats in the same way as.
  • with all this, echidna cubs feed on milk and belong to the class of mammals.

Therefore, they often talk about echidna as a "bird animal". Look at echidna photo, and much will become clear at a glance. What is this special creation, who is this echidna?


Echidna and platypus belong to the same order, which are known as monotremes (single pass). In nature, there are 2 varieties of echidna:

  • spiny (Tasmanian, Australian)
  • woolly (New Guinea)

The surface of the body is covered with needles, the length of which is about 6 centimeters. The color of the needles varies from white to dark brown, so the color of the animal is uneven.

In addition to needles, echidnas have brown wool She is quite rough and tough. Particularly dense coat and quite long in the parotid region. The size of the echidna refers to small animals, about 40 centimeters.

Pictured is a woolly echidna

The head is small in size and almost immediately merges with the body. The muzzle is long and thin, and it ends with a small mouth - a tube, which is often called a beak. The echidna has a long and sticky tongue, but it has no teeth at all. In general, the beak helps the animal to navigate in space, as vision is very poor.

Echidna moves on four legs, they are small in size, but very strong, muscular. She has five fingers on each paw, which end in strong claws.

This unique miracle nature, like, can curl up and turn into a prickly ball. If there is some source of danger or threat to life nearby, then the echidna burrows into the loose soil with half of the body and exposes its needles as protection so that the enemy cannot get close to it.

Often you have to escape from dangers and flee, then strong paws come to the rescue, which provide quick movement to a safe shelter. In addition to being a good runner, the echidna is also good at swimming.

The nature and lifestyle of the echidna

Echidna lives in Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania. The life of the echidna was first described by George Shaw in 1792, and it was from that time that the observation of this animal began. However, echidnas are quite secretive and do not like interference in their lives, which greatly complicates study and research.

Not in vain word"Sneaky" means treacherous. So and animal echidna cunningly and cautiously, does not allow intrusion into his life. Australian echidnas prefer to lead a nocturnal lifestyle.

They live mainly in forests or areas with dense vegetation, where the animal feels protected under the cover of foliage and plants. Echidna can hide in thickets, tree roots, crevices in rocks, small caves, or in burrows that dig and.

In such shelters, the animal spends the hottest hours of the day, with the onset of the evening, when the coolness is already well felt, echidnas begin to active life.

However, with the onset of cold weather, the life of the animal seems to slow down and for some time they can go into hibernation, although in general the echidna does not belong to the class of animals sleeping in winter. This behavior of the echidna is associated with the absence of sweat glands, so it does not adapt well to different temperatures.

With a significant change in temperature, the animal becomes lethargic and inactive, sometimes it completely slows down the process of vital activity. The supply of subcutaneous fat provides the necessary nutrition to the body for a long time, sometimes it can last about 4 months.

In the photo, the echidna is in a defensive pose

Reproduction and lifespan

The breeding season, the so-called mating season, falls just in the Australian winter, which lasts from May to September. At other times, echidnas live alone, but with the onset of winter they gather in small groups, which usually consist of one female and several males (usually there are up to 6 males in one group).

For about a month, they have a so-called dating period, when the animals feed and live together in the same territory. After that, the males proceed to the stage of courting the female. This is usually shown by the animals sniffing each other and poking their noses into the tail of the only female member of their group.

When the female is ready to mate, the males surround her and begin a kind of wedding ritual, which consists in circling to dig a trench about 25 centimeters around the female.

Pictured is an echidna with a tiny egg

When everything is ready, the fights for the title of the most worthy begin, the males push each other out of the trench. The only one who will defeat everyone and will mate with the female.

About 3-4 weeks after mating has occurred, the female is ready to lay an egg. The echidna always lays only one egg. The echidna's pouch appears only at this time, and then disappears again.

The egg is about the size of a pea and fits in the mother's pouch. Exactly how this process occurs is still debated by scientists. After about 8-12 days, a cub is born, but for the next 50 days from the moment of birth, it will still be in the bag.

Pictured is a baby echidna

The echidna mother then finds a safe place where she leaves her cub and visits him about once a week to feed him. Thus another 5 months pass. Then the time comes when echidna children ready for independent adult life and no longer needs maternal care and care.

Echidna can reproduce no more than once every two years, or even less often, but the nature of life expectancy is approximately 13-17 years. This is considered to be quite high. However, there were cases when echidnas in the zoo lived up to 45 years.

Echidna food

The diet of echidnas includes termites, small worms, and sometimes malus. To get food, the echidna digs up an anthill or termite mound, rips off the bark of trees where insects hide, moves small stones under which worms can usually be found, or simply combs through the nose forest floor from leaves, moss and small branches.

As soon as the prey is found, it goes into action long tongue, to which the insect sticks or . The echidna lacks teeth to crush its prey, but it digestive system designed so that it has special keratin teeth that rub against the palate.

Thus, the process of "chewing" food takes place. In addition, grains of sand, small pebbles and earth get into the body of the echidna, which also help grind food in the stomach of the animal.

Everyone knows from school curriculum about mammals. Did you know that an egg-laying mammal is a separate species of animal that lives only on the territory of one continent - Australia? Let's take a look at this special kind animals in more detail.

Discovery of oviparous

For a long time, the existence of animals unique in their kind that breed by incubating eggs was not known. The first message about these creatures came to Europe in the 17th century. At this time, the skin of a marvelous creature with a beak, covered with wool, was brought from Australia. It was a platypus. The alcoholized copy was brought only 100 years later. The fact is that platypuses practically do not tolerate captivity. It is very difficult for them to create conditions during transportation. Therefore, observations of them were carried out only in the natural environment.

Following the discovery of the platypus, news came of another creature with a beak, only now it is covered with needles. This is an echidna. For a long time, scientists argued about which class to classify these two creatures. And they came to the conclusion that the platypus and echidna should be placed in a separate detachment. This is how the detachment One-pass, or cloacal, appeared.

Amazing platypus

A unique creature of its kind, leading a nocturnal lifestyle. The platypus is distributed only in Australia and Tasmania. The animal lives half in the water, that is, it builds holes with access to the water and to land, and also feeds in the water. A creature of small size - up to 40 centimeters. It has, as already mentioned, a duck nose, but at the same time it is soft and covered with skin. Only in appearance it is very similar to a duck. There is also a 15 cm tail, similar to a beaver's tail. The paws are webbed, but at the same time they do not prevent the platypus from walking on the ground and digging holes perfectly.

Since the genitourinary system and intestines exit the animal into one hole, or cloaca, it was attributed to separate species- Cloacal. It is interesting that the platypus, unlike ordinary mammals, swims with the help of its front paws, and the hind legs serve as a rudder. Among other things, let's pay attention to how it reproduces.

Platypus breeding

Interesting fact: before breeding, animals fall into a 10-day hibernation, and only after that does it begin mating season. It lasts almost the entire autumn, from August to November. Platypuses mate in the water, and after a two-week period, the female lays an average of 2 eggs. Males do not participate in the later life of offspring.

The female builds a special hole (up to 15 meters long) with a nest at the end of the tunnel. Lines it with raw leaves and stems to maintain a certain humidity so that the eggs do not dry out. Interestingly, for protection, she also builds a barrier wall 15 centimeters thick.

Only after preparatory work she lays her eggs in the nest. The platypus incubates eggs by curling up around them. After 10 days, babies are born, naked and blind, like all mammals. The female feeds the babies with milk, which flows from the pores directly through the fur into the grooves and accumulates in them. Babies lick milk and thus feed. Feeding lasts about 4 months, and then the kids learn to get food on their own. It was the method of reproduction that gave this species the name "egg-laying mammal".

extraordinary echidna

Echidna is also an egg-laying mammal. This is a land creature of small size, reaching up to 40 centimeters. It also lives in Australia, Tasmania and the islands of New Guinea. In appearance, this animal looks like a hedgehog, but with a long narrow beak, not exceeding 7.5 centimeters. Interestingly, the echidna has no teeth, and it catches prey with the help of a long sticky tongue.

The body of the echidna is covered on the back and sides with spines, which were formed from coarse wool. Wool covers the belly, head and paws is fully adapted for a certain type of food. It feeds on termites, ants and small insects. She leads a daytime lifestyle, although it is not easy to find her. The fact is that she has a low body temperature, up to 32 degrees, and this does not allow her to endure a decrease or increase in ambient temperature. In this case, the echidna becomes lethargic and rests under trees or hibernates.

Echidna breeding method

Echidna is an egg-laying mammal, but it was only possible to prove this in early XXI century. interesting mating games echidna. There are up to 10 males per female. When she decides she's ready to mate, she lays down on her back. At the same time, males dig a trench around it and begin to fight for supremacy. The one who turned out to be stronger copulates with the female.

Pregnancy lasts up to 28 days and ends with the appearance of one egg, which the female moves to the brood fold. It is still not clear how the female moves the egg into the bag, but after 10 days the baby appears. The cub comes into the world incompletely formed.

Young

The birth of such a baby is very similar to the birth of young marsupials. They also pass their final development in the mother's pouch and leave her as adults, ready for independent life. Interesting fact: marsupials also common only in Australia.

How does the baby echidna appear? He is blind and naked, his hind limbs are not developed, his eyes are covered with a leathery film, and fingers are formed only on the front paws. It takes a baby 4 hours to get to milk. Interestingly, in the mother's pouch there are 100-150 pores that secrete milk through special hairs. The kid just needs to get to them.

The baby is in the mother's pouch for about 2 months. He gains weight very quickly due to nutritious milk. Echidna's milk is the only one that has a pink color due to a large number it has iron. Feeding continues up to 6.5 months. After the young growth learns to get food on its own.

prochidna

Prochidna is another egg-laying mammal. This creature is much larger than its counterparts. The habitat is the north of New Guinea and the islands of Indonesia. The size of the prochidna is impressive, up to 80 centimeters, while its weight is up to 10 kilograms. It looks like a echidna, but the beak is much longer and the needles are much shorter. She lives in mountainous areas and feeds mostly on worms. The structure of the oral cavity of the prochidna is interesting: her tongue has teeth, and with the help of it she is able not only to chew food, but, as has been noted, even to turn over stones.

This species is the least studied, as it lives in the mountains. But at the same time, it was noticed that the animal does not lose mobility in any weather, does not hibernate and is able to regulate the temperature. own body. Reproduction of egg-laying mammals, to which the prochidna belongs, occurs in the same way as in the other two species. She hatches only one egg, which is placed in a bag on her stomach, and feeds the cub with milk.

Comparative characteristics

Now let's look at the types of mammals that live on the Australian continent. So, what is the difference between oviparous, marsupial and placental mammals? To begin with, it must be said that all mammals feed their offspring with milk. But the birth of babies has huge differences.

Oviparous animals have one thing in common. They lay eggs like birds and incubate them for a certain amount of time. After the birth of the offspring, the mother's body produces milk, which the babies eat. It should be noted that the cubs do not suck milk, but lick it from the grooves on the female's stomach. The absence of nipples distinguishes oviparous from other mammals.

They have a pouch, hence their name. The pouch is located on the abdomen of females. A newborn baby, having reached it, finds a nipple and, as it were, hangs on it. The fact is that babies are born unformed and spend several more months in their mother's pouch until they are fully developed. It must be said that oviparous and marsupial mammals are similar in this respect. Echidna and prochidna babies are also born underdeveloped and placed in a kind of brood fold.

What about placental mammals? Their babies are born fully formed due to the presence of a placenta in the uterus. Due to it, the process of nutrition and development of the cub takes place. The majority of animals are placental.

Such a variety of species exists on one continent.