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It can eat quickly; a specimen of around 3 kg (6.6 lb) can ingest 200 g (7.1 oz) of termites in 10 minutes. [53] The echidna's stomach is quite different from other mammals. It is devoid of secretory glands and has a cornified stratified epithelium, which resembles horny skin.
The diet of some species consists of ants and termites, but they are not closely related to the American true anteaters or to hedgehogs. Their young are called puggles. Echidnas evolved between 20 and 50 million years ago, descending from a platypus-like monotreme. [4] This ancestor was aquatic, but echidnas adapted to life on land. [4]
The long-beaked echidnas (genus Zaglossus) make up one of the two extant genera of echidnas: there are three extant species, all living in New Guinea. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] They are medium-sized, solitary mammals covered with coarse hair and spines made of keratin .
The eastern long-beaked echidna can be distinguished from other members of the genus by the number of claws on the fore and hind feet: it has five claws on its fore feet and four on its hind feet. Its weight varies from 5 to 10 kilograms (11 to 22 lb); its body length ranges from 60 to 100 centimetres (24 to 39 in); it has no tail.
The team also found an entirely new genus of tree-dwelling shrimp, countless new species of insects and a previously unknown cave system.
Myrmecophagy means "ant-eating" (Ancient Greek: murmēx, "ants", and phagein, "to eat"); the related habit of termite-eating is termitophagy. The two dietary habits often overlap, as these eusocial insects live in large, densely-populated, terrestrial ant colonies or termite mounds , requiring specialised adaptations from any species that ...
The western long-beaked echidna is an egg-laying mammal. Unlike the short-beaked echidna, which eats ants and termites, the long-beaked species eats earthworms.The long-beaked echidna is also larger than the short-beaked species, reaching up to 16.5 kilograms (36 lb); the snout is longer and turns downward; and the spines are almost indistinguishable from the long fur.
Zaglossus attenboroughi, also known as Attenborough's long-beaked echidna or locally as Payangko, is one of three species from the genus Zaglossus that inhabits the island of New Guinea. [3] It lives in the Cyclops Mountains , which are near the cities of Sentani and Jayapura in the Indonesian province of Papua .