Very cute, but oh, so not cuddley.
This young Short-beaked Echidna was wandering (waddling, actually) through our back yard about a half hour ago.
Echidnas are one of the two remaining monotremes left in the world. The other is the Platypus.
Monotremes lay a leathery egg (like a reptile egg) from the same orifice through which they pass feces (hence monos single + trema, hole; which refers to the cloaca, a feature they share with birds).
And although they don’t have nipples, they secrete milk through specialized skin cells.
Monotremes’ main evolutionary “flaw” seems to be that they are none too bright, but like many a politician with a similar paucity of smarts, they’ve survived by finding specialized niches and giving anyone who tries to eat them a good poke (male Platypus actually have a poison spur).
