But unlike other mammals, monotremes don’t have nipples or teats a puggle sucks or laps milk from its mother’s fur near two “milk patches” in her pouch. Like other mammals, mother echidnas produce milk for their young. For the next two months or so, it continues its development, snuggled up safe and warm in its mother’s pouch. For the first four days, its lungs aren’t developed enough to breathe, and it respires through its skin. Its eyes are undeveloped, and its unpigmented, hairless skin is semi-translucent. After somehow managing to nudge the leathery egg into her pouch(!), she stays in the shelter for 10 to 11 days, until the egg hatches.Ī tiny, fetus-like echidna hatchling still has a lot of developing to do. About three weeks after mating, she seeks out a shelter and lays a single, grape-size egg. Behind the Scenesįor the first couple of months after a successful mating, here’s what we couldn’t see:īetween mating and egg-laying, a female echidna develops a pouch. We weren’t able to confirm pregnancy, but based on the behavior of our two females-named Pink and Orange-we were hopeful. We confirmed breeding behavior in the echidnas in our care via remote video footage. Like the platypus, echidnas are monotremes-a small group of unusual, egg-laying mammals. The adorable little ball of cuteness at the top of this page is a baby echidna, also known as a puggle.
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