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The short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus), also called the short-nosed echidna, is one of four living species of echidna, and the only member of the genus Tachyglossus. It is covered in fur and spines and has a distinctive snout and a specialised tongue , which it uses to catch its insect prey at a great speed.
The species are Western long-beaked echidna (Z. bruijni), of the highland forests; Sir David's long-beaked echidna (Z. attenboroughi), discovered by Western science in 1961 (described in 1998) and preferring a still higher habitat; [37] Eastern long-beaked echidna (Z. bartoni), of which four distinct subspecies have been identified.
Genus Tachyglossus (short-beaked echidna) Short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) Genus Zaglossus (long-beaked echidnas) Western long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus bruijnii) Eastern long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus bartoni) Sir David's long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus attenboroughi)
Attenborough's long-beaked echidna, named for the famed biologist David Attenborough, is one of only five living species of monotremes, a group of egg-laying mammals that includes the platypus.
The Ornithorhynchidae / ɔːr ˌ n ɪ θ ə ˈ r ɪ ŋ k ɪ d iː / are one of the two extant families in the order Monotremata, and contain the platypus and its extinct relatives. The other family is the Tachyglossidae, or echidnas.
Rediscovering Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna was only one of the goals of Expedition Cyclops. Researchers also set out to investigate the origins of the biodiversity of the Cyclops Mountains.
The animal is currently classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The footage of the echidna was captured in the last images on the team’s final memory card.
Ornithorhynchoidea is a superfamily of mammals containing the only living monotremes, the platypus and the echidnas, as well as their closest fossil relatives, to the exclusion of more primitive fossil monotremes of uncertain affinity.