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The fictional character Knuckles the Echidna from Sonic the Hedgehog is a red short beaked echidna who possesses superhuman strength. The short-beaked echidna is an iconic animal in contemporary Australia, notably appearing on the five-cent coin (the smallest denomination), [122] and on a $200 commemorative coin released in 1992. [123]
A short-beaked echidna building a defensive burrow in French Island National Park (43 seconds) Male echidnas have a four-headed penis. [26] During mating, the heads on one side "shut down" and do not grow in size; the other two are used to release semen into the female's two-branched reproductive tract.
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)
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.
The echidna spurs are vestigial and have no known function, while the platypus spurs contain venom. [42] Molecular data show that the main component of platypus venom emerged before the divergence of platypus and echidnas, suggesting that the most recent common ancestor of these taxa was also possibly a venomous monotreme.
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 team also found an entirely new genus of tree-dwelling shrimp, countless new species of insects and a previously unknown cave system.
The Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna is also one of five guardians of a highly unique and fragile evolutionary history that dates back over 200 million years, said Kempton.