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Egg-laying Mammal Is Living Link to Reptiles - may be the strangest mammal in the world
ngm ^ | May 18,2010 | Christy Ullrich

Posted on 05/31/2010 1:36:11 PM PDT by JoeProBono

Related to the platypus, this nocturnal worm-eater is the largest egg-laying mammal in the world. An echidna can weigh up to 36 pounds. Photograph by Tim Laman It may be the strangest mammal in the world—spiky hairs, pointy beak, no nipples, four-headed penis. The long-beaked echidna, found in the rain forest of New Guinea’s Foja mountains, has adapted in remarkable ways. A monotreme, from a group of egg-laying mammals that have been around since the time of the dinosaurs, this primitive animal serves as a living link between mammals and reptiles.

Short-beaked echidnas and platypuses are the only other living monotremes. Weighing up to 36 pounds, echidnas have powerful bodies that allow them to dig easily. Muscular shoulders, strong arms, and five-clawed feet enable them to dig straight down into the ground, disappearing from sight within minutes.

Says Kristofer Helgen, mammal curator at the Smithsonian Institution, “they’re impenetrable.” When an echidna senses danger, “it tucks in its head, forms a ball, and starts to disappear into the ground right in front of you,” he says.

Its peculiar-looking elongated beak is an outgrowth of its skull. The echnida uses its beak to overturn rocks and root around for its favorite meals—earthworms, beetles, and millipedes—then devours its food with its long sticky tongue. Echidnas are also said to have “a sixth sense,” says Helgen. The skin of their sensitive beaks is innervated, which gives them the ability to detect electrical fields and navigate gradients in moist soil that leads them to the bodies of earthworms.

The echidna has a single hole, the cloaca, for excretion, egg-laying, and mating. Scientists believe that probably only two of the males’ four penis heads are active during copulation. A dozen males may pursue a female echidna, and she likely mates multiple times. Since females don’t have nipples, they produce milk from mammary patches on their stomachs that their young lap up.

Echidnas are known as slow movers, and though they waddle, they can forage across long distances. Humans and dogs are their only real predators today, which is why national parks and remote areas, like the Foja mountains, remain important sanctuaries for these critically endangered animals. The long-beaked echidna thrives in the mountain rain forest of the Fojas, with its earthworm-filled soils.

“Unlike porcupine quills, which can stab, the echina’s spines are like spiky armor—a kind of discouragement,” Helgen says. The modified hairs come from a long root that originates in a muscular layer of the animal’s body. This feature allows the echidna to move its hair individually or in groups.

Much about this fascinating animal continues to elude scientists, including the echidna's mating behavior. No one has ever reported seeing a baby long-beaked echidna.


TOPICS: Outdoors; Pets/Animals; Science; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: alfranken; echidnas; godsgravesglyphs
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1 posted on 05/31/2010 1:36:11 PM PDT by JoeProBono
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To: JoeProBono

2 posted on 05/31/2010 1:39:34 PM PDT by SIDENET ("If that's your best, your best won't do." -Dee Snider)
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To: SIDENET

3 posted on 05/31/2010 1:40:56 PM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet)
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To: SIDENET

Somehow I don’t think Helen Thomas ever layed an egg. Or anything ELSE for that matter.


4 posted on 05/31/2010 1:41:47 PM PDT by Oldpuppymax
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To: Oldpuppymax
Very true, but she IS a "living link to reptiles".

LOL.

I'm just surprised that I was first with the HT pic.

(You gotta be quick on FR.)

5 posted on 05/31/2010 1:45:17 PM PDT by SIDENET ("If that's your best, your best won't do." -Dee Snider)
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To: JoeProBono
The long-beaked echidna thrives in the mountain rain forest of the Fojas, with its earthworm-filled soils.

Don't know why, but I just love this sentence.

6 posted on 05/31/2010 1:46:48 PM PDT by SIDENET ("If that's your best, your best won't do." -Dee Snider)
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To: JoeProBono
Four Heads Are Better than One.
7 posted on 05/31/2010 1:48:44 PM PDT by aruanan
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To: SIDENET

http://www.johnspeedie.com/healy/saywhat.wav


8 posted on 05/31/2010 1:49:15 PM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: JoeProBono

Is this a kiwi?


9 posted on 05/31/2010 1:49:32 PM PDT by Louis Foxwell (He is the son of soulless slavers, not the son of soulful slaves.)
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To: JoeProBono

Dinsdale...


10 posted on 05/31/2010 1:49:55 PM PDT by Disambiguator (Progressivism, Socialism, Marxism, Communism - it's all shades of black.)
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To: Disambiguator

Spiny Norman.........


11 posted on 05/31/2010 1:51:23 PM PDT by razbinn (I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America,and to the republic for which it ...)
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To: aruanan
"Four heads are better than one."

Hey, I think Tiger Woods needs one like that...you know, for multitasking!

12 posted on 05/31/2010 1:51:58 PM PDT by Mich Patriot (Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but democrats believe every day is April 15th.)
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To: JoeProBono
spiky hairs, pointy beak, no nipples, four-headed penis. . . . probably only two of the males’ four penis heads are active during copulation.

Slouchers!

13 posted on 05/31/2010 1:52:18 PM PDT by Charles Henrickson (Four heads are better than two.)
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To: SIDENET

"arrrrggh that's the ugliest thing ever, the animal is ugly too"

14 posted on 05/31/2010 1:54:25 PM PDT by Doogle (USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated)
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To: SIDENET
"No one has ever reported seeing a baby long-beaked echidna."


15 posted on 05/31/2010 1:55:40 PM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet)
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To: JoeProBono

It looks like a cross between a mole and a hedge hog.


16 posted on 05/31/2010 1:56:17 PM PDT by MsLady (If you died tonight, where would you go? Salvation, don't leave earth without it!)
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To: Charles Henrickson

Click on the picture for Perry's theme song

17 posted on 05/31/2010 1:57:35 PM PDT by FlJoePa
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To: MsLady

18 posted on 05/31/2010 1:58:22 PM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet)
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To: SIDENET

LMAO!!! But of COURSE the helen thomas glam shot would be posted! I really must say it still shocks me every time.


19 posted on 05/31/2010 1:58:49 PM PDT by small voice in the wilderness ( I take no pleasure in saying "I told you so". Pride, yes. Pleasure, no.)
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To: JoeProBono

So where did you get this picture then?

and where is foja?


20 posted on 05/31/2010 2:05:31 PM PDT by Beowulf9
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