Animal
Short-beaked echidna
The echidna is a spiky mammal with a long nose. It licks up ants with its sticky tongue. A mother echidna lays an egg!
The short-beaked echidna is a spiny mammal that lays eggs. It lives all over Australia and in parts of New Guinea, digs into ant and termite nests with strong claws, and licks up the insects with a long, sticky tongue. It has no teeth at all.
Tachyglossus aculeatus is a monotreme, one of only five living egg-laying mammals, and the most widely distributed of them. A toothless specialist on ants and termites, it ranges from Tasmania to New Guinea, rears a single hatchling called a puggle in a pouch and then a burrow, and is listed by the IUCN as Least Concern.
Photo: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Meet the short-beaked echidna
The echidna is covered in spikes called spines.
It has a long, thin nose and short legs. It is a mammal, like you. But a mother echidna lays an egg!
The short-beaked echidna looks a bit like a hedgehog, but it belongs to a very special group of mammals called monotremes. Monotremes are mammals that lay eggs. There are only five of them in the world: four kinds of echidna and the platypus.
This echidna has sharp spines on its back, a long nose called a beak, and no teeth. It is the only kind of echidna that lives in Australia.
Tachyglossus aculeatus belongs to the Monotremata, the egg-laying mammals. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance counts five living monotremes: the platypus and four echidnas. The Australian Museum notes that the short-beaked echidna is the only echidna in Australia. The family name Tachyglossidae means "fast tongue."
Like other mammals it has hair and feeds its young on milk, but it lays a soft-shelled egg and has a cloaca, a single opening for waste and, in females, eggs. Monotremes also have low metabolic rates and low body temperatures. Animal Diversity Web notes that the echidna's brain is larger than expected for its body mass, with a large, highly folded cerebral cortex.
Quick facts
- Group
- Mammal
- Length
- 30 to 45 cm
- Weight
- 2 to 7 kg
- Lifespan in the wild
- up to 50 years
Where echidnas live
Echidnas live in Australia and on the island of New Guinea.
They live in forests, in grassy places and in dry deserts. Some even live where snow falls.
Short-beaked echidnas live all over Australia, including the island of Tasmania, and in the south and east of New Guinea. New Guinea is a big island shared by two countries, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
Echidnas live in forests and woodlands, heath, grasslands and dry deserts, from the seashore up into the mountains. They need ground they can dig into, for food and for shelter.
Animal Diversity Web describes T. aculeatus as the most widely distributed living monotreme. The IUCN lists it in every Australian state and territory, in Papua (Indonesia) and in Papua New Guinea. Its habitats span forest, savanna, shrubland, grassland and desert, from sea level to at least 1,675 meters, including Australian country above the snowline.
The Australian Museum notes that although it is found all over Australia, it is less common around Sydney than it once was. Loose topsoil suits it best, but it can dig through hard-packed ground. The map shades whole countries; in Indonesia the species lives only in the Papua region of New Guinea.
Continent
Its habitats
Where can you find this animal?
- Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
- Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
All of Australia, including Tasmania, and southern and eastern New Guinea (Papua in Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea). In Indonesia it lives only on New Guinea.
Places: Australia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
Source: iucn-red-list · checked October 2026
Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Counts of GBIF records of wild observations (human and machine) and preserved specimens. Records include introduced populations, vagrants, escaped or released animals and misidentifications, so a country with records is not necessarily part of the native range.
Wild sightings have been recorded in Australia, Papua New Guinea, United States, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Germany, China and 3 more places.
Source: gbif · checked October 2026
Range maps show where scientists say an animal lives, often country by country. An animal may live in only part of a country shown, and sightings records can include animals that wandered far from home.
A tongue for ants
Echidnas eat ants, termites and worms.
They dig into ant nests with their claws. Then they lick up the ants with a long, sticky tongue. They have no teeth.
Echidnas eat ants, termites, earthworms and other small creatures. An echidna sniffs out a nest, tears it open with its strong front claws, and flicks its long, sticky tongue into the tunnels. The tongue can be about 15 centimeters long, half the length of a 30-centimeter school ruler.
With no teeth, the echidna mashes its food with hard pads on its tongue and the roof of its mouth. It swallows a lot of dirt along with the insects, and the dirt comes out in its droppings.
The diet is ants, termites and other invertebrates, including earthworms. Echidnas break into nests and logs with their front claws and probe the crevices with a sticky tongue about 15 centimeters long. Lacking teeth, they grind prey into a paste between hard pads at the base of the tongue and on the roof of the mouth.
So much soil is swallowed that it makes up much of the droppings. Foraging leaves small pits in the ground; Animal Diversity Web reports that these pits act as resource traps and change the soil's chemistry, and that the patchiness they create may help keep nutrients cycling in semi-arid country.
Spines, beak and claws
An echidna's spines keep it safe.
Its nose can smell food under the ground. Its short legs and strong claws are great for digging. It can curl up into a spiky ball.
An echidna's back is covered in hollow spines about 5 centimeters long, with dark fur in between. Its little eyes do not see very well, but it hears and smells very well. Its ears are slits behind its eyes, with no ear flaps.
The beak can feel tiny electrical signals from an insect's body. Short, strong legs are made for digging. Each back foot has an extra-long claw that works like a comb, scratching out dirt and bugs stuck between the spines.
The dorsal surface, including a small tail, is covered in hollow, barbless spines about 5 centimeters long, with fur between them; in some subspecies the fur can be longer than the spines. There are no external ear flaps: the ears are vertical slits behind the small eyes. Hearing and smell matter more than sight.
The rubbery snout has nostrils at its tip and can detect electrical signals from prey as well as touch and vibration. The hind feet point backward and carry a long grooming claw on the second toe. Males have non-venomous spurs on the ankles of their hind legs.
An egg and a puggle
A mother echidna lays one soft egg.
She keeps it in a pouch on her tummy. A tiny baby hatches. It is called a puggle. It drinks its mother's milk.
Once a year a female echidna usually lays one leathery egg, about the size of a grape, and rolls it into a pouch on her belly. About ten days later the baby hatches. A baby echidna is called a puggle, and it is smaller than a jelly bean.
The puggle holds on to hairs in the pouch and laps up milk, because echidna mothers have no nipples. When its spines start to poke through, at about 53 days, its mother moves it into a burrow and comes back to feed it.
Mating usually takes place from June to August. About 23 days later the female lays a single soft-shelled egg into her pouch, and it hatches after 10 or 11 days. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance gives the hatchling, or puggle, as about 12 millimeters long and 0.56 grams. It clings to hairs in the pouch and laps milk from pores over the mammary glands, as echidnas have no nipples.
When its spines begin to break through, at about 53 days, the mother leaves it in a nursery burrow and returns every 5 to 10 days to nurse it, until it can go out alone at about 7 months. Young reach full adult size after three to five years. Animal Diversity Web gives the longest recorded lifespan as 50 years, in captivity; San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance says up to 58 years in zoos, while the lifespan in the wild is unknown.
Digging in and curling up
Echidnas like to be alone.
If danger comes, an echidna digs straight down into the ground. Then only its spiny back shows. It can swim and climb too.
Echidnas mostly live alone. They are active in the day, the evening or both, depending on the season and the food. They find each other mainly by smell.
When danger comes, an echidna can run, dig or curl up. Digging works best: it burrows straight down until only its spiny back is showing, so a predator can hardly grab it. It can also roll into a prickly ball. Echidnas are good swimmers and can climb trees too.
Short-beaked echidnas are solitary, with overlapping home ranges, and move according to food rather than defending territories. They sense one another mainly by smell, and piles of droppings may act as signals. In the breeding season one or several males may follow a single female, a habit that has earned the name "echidna train."
To save energy, many echidnas hibernate from early autumn to late spring, letting their body temperature fall to 8 to 10 °C. The timing varies with subspecies, place, sex and breeding state. Threatened echidnas dig down until only the spines show, or curl into a ball to shield the underside.
Did you know?
Echidnas can live a very long time.
One echidna lived to 50 years old in a zoo, a very long life for an animal its size.
Animal Diversity Web gives the longest recorded lifespan as 50 years in captivity, about 3.7 times what would be expected for a mammal of its body size.
Keeping echidnas safe
There are lots of echidnas.
But cars, dogs and foxes can hurt them. Some echidnas live in parks, where they are protected.
Short-beaked echidnas are not endangered. The IUCN lists them as Least Concern, because they live across a huge area and their numbers are steady.
They still face dangers. Cars kill many echidnas on Australian roads, and feral dogs, cats and foxes can catch them, especially the young. In parts of New Guinea people hunt echidnas for food. Echidnas live in protected areas such as national parks, and the IUCN has suggested counting how many are killed on busy tourist roads.
The IUCN assessed T. aculeatus as Least Concern in 2015 (published 2016), with a stable population and conservation sites identified across its whole range. Animal Diversity Web, summarizing the IUCN's earlier 2008 listing, gives the reasons as a broad distribution, a large and stable population and tolerance of many habitats, and notes that the IUCN suggested monitoring the numbers killed on major tourist roads. Natural predation is limited, but introduced predators such as foxes, feral cats and dogs take echidnas, mostly young ones in burrows, and motor vehicles are a major cause of death.
In New Guinea echidnas are hunted for food, and Animal Diversity Web warns that over-hunting may become a problem there. The other three echidnas, all long-beaked species of New Guinea, are far more threatened: two are Critically Endangered and one Vulnerable.
IUCN Red List
How is the short-beaked echidna doing in the wild?
- Least Concern (this animal)
- Near Threatened
- Vulnerable
- Endangered
- Critically Endangered
- Extinct in the Wild
- Extinct
Least Concern
Not at risk of disappearing from the wild right now.
See the IUCN Red List assessment · The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022.2
Amazing facts
-
A baby echidna is called a puggle.
A newly hatched puggle is about 12 millimeters long, smaller than a jelly bean.
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance gives a hatchling's size as about 12 millimeters and 0.56 grams.
-
Echidnas have no teeth.
Echidnas have no teeth. Hard pads in the mouth mash their food instead.
Toothless, the echidna grinds ants and termites between hard pads on the back of the tongue and the palate.
-
An echidna can dig down into the ground to hide.
When it is in danger, an echidna digs straight down until only its spiny back is left showing.
Digging straight down until only the spines are exposed makes an echidna almost impossible for a predator to pull out.
-
Echidnas can live a very long time.
One echidna lived to 50 years old in a zoo, a very long life for an animal its size.
Animal Diversity Web gives the longest recorded lifespan as 50 years in captivity, about 3.7 times what would be expected for a mammal of its body size.
Words to know
- monotreme
- a mammal that lays eggs, like the echidna and the platypus
- puggle
- a baby echidna
- spine
- a stiff, sharp, hollow quill on an echidna's back
- pouch
- a pocket of skin on a mother's belly where a baby is kept
- burrow
- a hole or tunnel in the ground that an animal digs
- hibernate
- to rest deeply through the cold months to save energy
Discovery challenge
-
How does a baby echidna start its life?
How does a short-beaked echidna's life begin?
Which describes how a short-beaked echidna begins life?
- It hatches from an egg
- It grows from a seed
- It drops from a tree
Show the answer
It hatches from an egg
A mother echidna lays an egg. A tiny puggle hatches from it.
Echidnas are monotremes, mammals that lay eggs. The egg hatches in the mother's pouch about ten days after it is laid.
A single soft-shelled egg is laid into the pouch about 23 days after mating and hatches after 10 or 11 days.
-
What is a baby echidna called?
What is a baby echidna called?
What name is given to a young echidna?
- A cub
- A puggle
- A foal
Show the answer
A puggle
A baby echidna is called a puggle.
A baby echidna is a puggle. It is smaller than a jelly bean when it hatches.
The hatchling, a puggle, is about 12 millimeters long and lives in the pouch until its spines begin to break through.
-
What does an echidna eat?
What is a short-beaked echidna's main food?
Which foods make up most of a short-beaked echidna's diet?
- Grass and leaves
- Fish
- Ants and termites
Show the answer
Ants and termites
Echidnas lick up ants and termites with a sticky tongue.
Echidnas eat ants, termites and other small creatures such as earthworms.
Ants, termites and other invertebrates, caught on a sticky tongue about 15 centimeters long and ground between hard pads.
-
What does an echidna do when danger comes?
What is an echidna's best trick when a predator comes near?
How does an adult echidna usually escape a predator?
- It flies away
- It digs down until only its spines show
- It sprays ink
Show the answer
It digs down until only its spines show
The echidna digs down fast. Only its spiny back shows.
It digs straight down until only its spiny back is showing, so a predator can hardly grab it. It can also curl into a ball.
Adults dig in or wedge under rocks and logs so only the spiny back is exposed, or curl up to protect the underside.
Places where you might see it
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Explain what a monotreme is and name the five living kinds.
- Describe how the echidna's beak, tongue, spines and claws help it find food and stay safe.
- Describe the echidna's life cycle from egg to puggle to independent young.
- Understand that a common species can still face dangers such as road traffic.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Echidnas and platypuses lay eggs but feed their young milk. What makes an animal a mammal?
- Why might an animal with no teeth still be very good at eating insects?
- What could people do to make roads safer for slow-moving animals?
Try at home or in class
- Measure 15 centimeters with a ruler and compare it with your own tongue to see how long an echidna's tongue is.
- Press a few uncooked spaghetti sticks into a ball of play dough to make a spiny echidna, then try picking it up when it is pressed flat against the table.
Key vocabulary: monotreme, puggle, spine, pouch, burrow, hibernate
Where these facts come from
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN terms of use (no redistribution of Red List data or range maps))
- GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and GBIF Occurrence Search , Global Biodiversity Information Facility (CC0 1.0 (backbone); occurrence counts are facts derived from records under CC0, CC BY and CC BY-NC)
- Tachyglossus aculeatus (short-beaked echidna) , Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan
- Echidna , San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance
- Short-beaked Echidna , Australian Museum
- Tachyglossus aculeatus (Short-beaked Echidna), 2016 assessment , IUCN Red List
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file: Public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA only (credited on each page))
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated October 24, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.