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Monotremes (/ ˈ m ɒ n ə t r iː m z /) are mammals of the order Monotremata. They are the only group of living mammals that lay eggs, rather than bearing live young. The extant monotreme species are the platypus and the four species of echidnas. Monotremes are typified by structural differences in their brains, jaws, digestive tract ...
Echidnas (/ ɪ ˈ k ɪ d n ə z /), sometimes known as spiny anteaters, [1] are quill-covered [2] monotremes (egg-laying mammals) belonging to the family Tachyglossidae / t æ k i ˈ ɡ l ɒ s ɪ d iː /, living in Australia and New Guinea.
The class Mammalia is divided into two subclasses based on reproductive techniques: egg-laying mammals (yinotherians or monotremes - see also Australosphenida), and mammals which give live birth . The latter subclass is divided into two infraclasses: pouched mammals ( metatherians or marsupials ), and placental mammals ( eutherians , for which ...
Like its fellow monotreme the platypus, the short-beaked echidna has a system of multiple sex chromosomes, in which males have four Y chromosomes and five X chromosomes. Males appear to be X 1 Y 1 X 2 Y 2 X 3 Y 3 X 4 Y 4 X 5, [110] [111] while females are X 1 X 1 X 2 X 2 X 3 X 3 X 4 X 4 X 5 X 5.
Australia is home to two of the five extant species of monotremes and the majority of the world's marsupials (the remainder are from Papua New Guinea, eastern Indonesia and the Americas). The taxonomy is somewhat fluid; this list generally follows Menkhorst and Knight [ 1 ] and Van Dyck and Strahan, [ 2 ] with some input from the global list ...
Their spiny protection resembles that of porcupines, which are rodents, and echidnas, a type of monotreme. Etymology The name hedgehog came into use around the year 1450, derived from the Middle English heyghoge , from heyg , hegge ' hedge ' , because it frequents hedgerows , and hoge , hogge ' hog ' , from its piglike snout. [ 4 ]
Echidna's family tree varies by author. [4] The oldest genealogy relating to Echidna, Hesiod's Theogony (c. 8th – 7th century BC), is unclear on several points. According to Hesiod, Echidna was born to a "she" who was probably meant by Hesiod to be the sea goddess Ceto, making Echidna's likely father the sea god Phorcys; however the "she" might instead refer to the Oceanid Callirhoe, which ...
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