Echidnas Are A Cross Between A Platypus, Anteater and Porcupine - And They Lay Eggs

By Lynda Staker

Mackay, Australia - There are only two monotremes in the world, the echidna and the platypus. The platypus is an air breathing aquatic monotreme that lays its eggs under the ground but out of the water, whereas the echidna is a land monotreme. The echidna has a sticky 14 cm long tongue to eat white ants and subterranean invertebrates.

As a macropod husbandry specialist, my work over the last twenty odd years entailed not only caring for various species of Australian marsupials, but also the echidna, which is a monotreme (an egg laying mammal).

The echidna mother forms two folds of skin to hold the egg, three days before she lays it. The egg hatches approximately 10 days later. She doesn't have mammary glands, so the milk exudes from her tummy for the baby, which is called a puggle, to slurp from, whilst on its back. The puggle does not have spines at this stage, nor are its eyes opened.
 
Puggles require specialized hand rearing techniques. As they instinctively only feed on their backs, we have to gastric tube feed, which requires a feeding tube inserted via the mouth and down into the stomach. The formula is designed specifically for echidnas and is a rich, fatty formula. Initially the very young puggle is fed every 24 hours and then every 48 hours, due to the low metabolic rate and slow digestive system of this unique animal. Once spined, the puggle is more likely to slurp the formula from the palm of our hand, until  eventually a shallow dish can be used.

My latest puggle whom I have named 'Bunky', (which means 'sleep a lot'), came in at 69 grams and 3 weeks old, after its mother was killed by a vehicle. I don't know whether Bunky is male or female as their sex organs are inside their bodies. At this time Bunky is now 174 grams and is 1 month and 24 days old. Once fully spined, I will create a make-believe underground burrow in soil to house Bunky in.
 
My free handrearing notes can be downloaded from my webpage:
http://lyndastaker.hainsnet.com/ however, I will be updating these notes as I have learnt yet more about hand rearing a very young puggle this time around.
My macropod husbandry manual is also available, and I am proud to say that this manual, which is my legacy to the survival of macropods, is now used in eighteen countries.

In Australia there are many facilities that house echidnas. Some of them are:
Healesville Sanctuary, Taronga Zoo and Australia Zoo to name a few.
 
In the United Kingdom, I know that Chester Zoo exhibits echidnas.
 
In the States:
Fort Wayne zoo has (at least one) short beaked echidna/s and I notice also
Saint Louis Zoo, they also explain the difference between  the short-beaked and the long- beaked echidnas on their web page, (the long-nosed echidna inhabits New Guinea while the short-beaked echidna is endemic to Australia).
 
Lynda Staker background:
Lynda Staker has spent over 20 years handrearing, rehabilitating and treating many species of Australian marsupials. She has pioneered many aspects of handrearing unfurred joeys and collating data pertaining to the clinical signs and treatment of disease and ailments of macropods.  She has conducted 75 lectures throughout the states of Australia and also presented at the Macropod Information Exchange symposium in 2000, in Columbus, Ohio. She worked as the Australian animal husbandry advisor and exhibit planner at Kentucky Down Under in Kentucky, during 2003-2004.  The Complete Guide to the Care of Macropods is her latest work and legacy to her many years working with macropods. This husbandry manual is now used in seventeen countries by macropod  keepers and veterinarians. She currently resides in Mackay,Queensland, Australia which is in the northern tropics.