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Echidnas

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Echidnas
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 4 to 8
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	8.82

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		echidna, hairless, hatches, lays, species, poisonous, horny, tubular, unique, actually, lighter, outward, male, earn, furthermore, solitary
	content words:		New Guinea

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Echidnas

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¹     Echidnas (pronounced "e-kid-na") look just like hedgehogs with long, tubular snouts. In fact, their spiny backs and love of ants earn them the nickname "spiny anteaters". Found only in Australia and New Guinea, echidnas are very un-mammal-like mammals. What does that mean, un-mammal-like? Well, echidnas don't give birth to live young as most mammals do. Instead, they lay eggs. Furthermore, echidnas don't have nipples. Instead, they have mammary glands under their skin that ooze out milk onto two patches of fur on their bellies. Surprisingly, echidnas are not the only animals with these two unique features. Platypuses also lay eggs and have no nipples. Together, echidnas and platypuses make up a distinctive mammal group called the monotreme.
 
²     There are two types of echidnas -- the short-beaked echidna and the long-beaked echidna. Aside from the obvious fact that the short-beaked echidna has a shorter snout than its long-beaked cousin, there are other noticeable differences between the two species:

• The short-beaked echidna is smaller and lighter than the long-beaked echidna.
• The short-beaked echidna has more spines on its back than the long-beaked echidna.
• The short-beaked echidna likes to use its sticky tongue to lick off ants and termites, whereas the long-beaked echidna prefers to use its gluey tongue to pick up earthworms.

³     Most of our understanding about echidnas came from observing short-beaked echidnas' behaviors, because they are quite common in Australia and New Guinea. Long-beaked echidnas, residing only in New Guinea, are rare and endangered.

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