It is hard to guess what a Short-beaked echidna weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) on average weights 4.5 kg (9.92 lbs).
The Short-beaked echidna is from the family Tachyglossidae (genus: Tachyglossus). They can live for up to 50 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 37.6 cm (1′ 3″). Usually, Short-beaked echidnas have 1 babies per litter.
As a reference: An average human weights in at 62 kg (137 lbs) and reaches an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″). Humans spend 280 days (40 weeks) in the womb of their mother and reach around 75 years of age.
The short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) 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 specialized tongue, which it uses to catch its insect prey at a great speed. Like the other extant monotremes, the short-beaked echidna lays eggs; the monotremes are the only group of mammals to do so.The short-beaked echidna has extremely strong front limbs and claws, which allow it to burrow quickly with great power. As it needs to be able to survive underground, it has a significant tolerance to high levels of carbon dioxide and low levels of oxygen. It has no weapons or fighting ability but repels predators by curling into a ball and deterring them with its spines. It lacks the ability to sweat and cannot deal with heat well, so it tends to avoid daytime activity in hot weather. It can swim if needed. The snout has mechanoreceptors and electroreceptors that help the echidna to detect its surroundings.During the Australian winter, it goes into deep torpor and hibernation, reducing its metabolism to save energy. As the temperature increases, it emerges to mate. Female echidnas lay one egg a year and the mating period is the only time the otherwise solitary animals meet one another; the male has no further contact with the female or his offspring after mating. A newborn echidna is the size of a grape but grows rapidly on its mother’s milk, which is very rich in nutrients. Baby echidnas eventually grow too large and spiky to stay in the pouch and, around seven weeks after hatching, are expelled from the pouch into the mother’s burrow. At around six months of age, they leave the burrow and have no more contact with their mothers.The species is found throughout Australia, where it is the most widespread native mammal, and in coastal and highland regions of eastern New Guinea, where it is known as the mungwe in the Daribi and Chimbu languages. It is not threatened with extinction, but human activities, such as hunting, habitat destruction, and the introduction of foreign predatory species and parasites, have reduced its distribution in Australia.
Animals of the same family as a Short-beaked echidna
We found other animals of the Tachyglossidae family:
- Western long-beaked echidna bringing 8.95 kilos (19.73 lbs) to the scale
Animals with the same weight as a Short-beaked echidna
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Tachyglossus aculeatus:
- Sun-tailed monkey with a weight of 5.26 kilos (11.6 lbs)
- Vancouver Island marmot with a weight of 5.24 kilos (11.55 lbs)
- Allied rock-wallaby with a weight of 4.63 kilos (10.21 lbs)
- Groundhog with a weight of 3.88 kilos (8.55 lbs)
- Bonnet macaque with a weight of 5 kilos (11.02 lbs)
- Arctic hare with a weight of 4.42 kilos (9.74 lbs)
- Pampas fox with a weight of 4.54 kilos (10.01 lbs)
- Brown howler with a weight of 5.19 kilos (11.44 lbs)
- Red panda with a weight of 5.17 kilos (11.4 lbs)
- Plains viscacha with a weight of 4.66 kilos (10.27 lbs)
Animals with the same size as a Short-beaked echidna
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Short-beaked echidna:
- Large-spotted civet with a size of 42.4 cm (1′ 5″)
- Bare-eared squirrel monkey with a size of 30.9 cm (1′ 1″)
- Tiger quoll with a size of 42.7 cm (1′ 5″)
- Japanese marten with a size of 44.2 cm (1′ 6″)
- Spotted linsang with a size of 35.4 cm (1′ 2″)
- Northern olingo with a size of 41.2 cm (1′ 5″)
- Riverine rabbit with a size of 43 cm (1′ 5″)
- Moonrat with a size of 32.7 cm (1′ 1″)
- Marsh rabbit with a size of 40.2 cm (1′ 4″)
- Broad-striped Malagasy mongoose with a size of 31.9 cm (1′ 1″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Short-beaked echidna
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (1) as a Short-beaked echidna:
- Rhim gazelle
- Coquerel’s giant mouse lemur
- Humpback whale
- Beluga whale
- Delicate mouse
- New Caledonia blossom bat
- Southern forest bat
- Philippine flying lemur
- Northern bettong
- Potto
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Short-beaked echidna
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Short-beaked echidna:
- Ringed seal with an average maximal age of 46 years
- Black crested gibbon with an average maximal age of 44.08 years
- Guinea baboon with an average maximal age of 40 years
- Lion-tailed macaque with an average maximal age of 40 years
- Pygmy hippopotamus with an average maximal age of 43.75 years
- Melon-headed whale with an average maximal age of 47 years
- Baikal seal with an average maximal age of 56 years
- Harp seal with an average maximal age of 42 years
- Bowhead whale with an average maximal age of 40 years
- Harbor seal with an average maximal age of 40 years