Is Echidna Really the Mother of All Monsters? In Greek mythology, Echidna was half-woman, half-snake, and indeed the mother of many of the most famous monsters – including the Chimera, which we meet ...
This is similar to the platypus, which has 40,000 electroreceptors on its bill, but the long-beaked echidna has only 2,000, while the short-beaked echidna, which lives in a drier environment, has no more than 400 at the tip of its snout.
Echidna, any of four species of peculiar egg-laying mammals from Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea that eat and breathe through a bald tubular beak protruding from a dome-shaped body covered in spines.
One of the echidna’s most notable characteristics are the short, sharp quills that cover their body. These quills are made of keratin, the same material that makes up hair, claws, and fur.
While the first genus is monotypic, with a single species, the short-beaked or short-nosed echidna, the latter has 3 species, namely the Eastern, Western, and Sir David’s long-beaked echidna.
While the echidna (pronounced ih-KID-na) is considered a mammal — because it's warm-blooded, has hair on its body and produces milk for its young — this large hedgehog -like creature is in a class of its own.
The Short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) is one of four living species of echidna. It is covered in fur and spines and has a distinctive snout and a specialized tongue, which it uses to catch its insect prey at a great speed.
Short-Beaked Echidna - Facts, Diet, Habitat & Pictures on ... - Animalia