Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

provided by

This clip shows an echidna foraging for food and then entering and swimming across a small stream. The narrator explains that, while the echidna spends most of its time on land, it can swim quite easily. The clip also includes commentary from biologists Peggy Rismiller and Mike McKelvey. Rismiller and McKelvey work at the remote Pelican Lagoon and Wildlife Research Centre on Kangaroo Island off the coast of South Australia, where this footage was shot.

Educational value points

• The term 'echidna’ usually refers to the short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) shown in this clip and found across Australia. There is also a long-beaked echidna, native to New Guinea. An adult echidna is about the size and weight of a newborn human infant, with males weighing up to 6 kg and females about 4.5 kg. They are between 35 cm and 53 cm long. The echidna and the platypus are the world’s only living monotremes (meaning single-vent), or egg-laying mammals.

• The spines that cover the back of the echidna are illustrated in the clip. Echidnas’ spines are light yellow with black tips and can be up to 6 cm long. There is some black fur between the spines. The spines have a long root that is embedded in a special muscle layer, allowing the animal to move the spines individually or in small groups. If attacked or disturbed, an echidna will curl into a spiky ball, with its snout tucked beneath itself, and use its long claws to dig into the ground.

• The clip illustrates the echidna’s swimming abilities. The echidna uses swimming to regulate body temperature, which ranges from 31 to 33 degrees Celsius. While cold temperatures do not bother it, the echidna is sensitive to heat. It has no sweat pores and does not pant, and so swims to cool down in hot weather. Echidnas travel great distances over a home territory that can cover up to 250 acres (about 101 hectares), and will also swim short distances to cross streams.

• As shown in the clip, the echidna forages for food. It has a keen sense of smell and uses its snout to detect food. The snout, which is about 7 cm long, is stiff to enable the echidna to poke into logs and termite mounds and dig under rocks; the animal also uses its front feet (each of which has five flattened claws) for this purpose.

• The echidna prefers termites and ants (which is why it is often referred to as the spiny anteater), but it also eats worms, beetle and moth larvae, and other insects. The echidna uses its long sticky tongue to collect its prey. It has no teeth, and so grinds food between its tongue and the bottom of its mouth. The action of the echidna’s tongue partly inspired its scientific name, Tachyglossus aculeatus, which means fast-tongued and spiny.

• The echidna is a very shy solitary creature and this can make it difficult to study. It can partially bury itself in a matter of minutes by burrowing straight down into the soil and leaf litter. Because of its elusiveness, it is almost impossible to estimate Australia’s echidna population, and consequently it has been placed on the endangered species list.

• The clip gives an example of an echidna’s habitat. Echidnas are found in a range of habitats across Australia, including rainforests, arid bushland, swamps, deserts and the seashore. Echidnas are often found among rocks, in hollow logs and in holes among tree roots.

• This footage was shot at the remote Pelican Lagoon and Wildlife Research Centre on Kangaroo Island off the coast of South Australia. The Centre is a non-profit educational trust run by Rismiller and McKelvey, and specialises in low-impact field research.