What is the maximal age a Short-beaked echidna reaches?
An adult Short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) usually gets as old as 50 years.
Short-beaked echidnas are around 17 days in the womb of their mother. When born, they weight 39.82 kg (87.79 lbs) and measure 11.2 cm (0′ 5″). As a member of the Tachyglossidae family (genus: Tachyglossus), their offspring is 1 babies per pregnancy. Fully grown, they reach a bodylength of 37.6 cm (1′ 3″).
As a reference: Usually, humans get as old as 100 years, with the average being around 75 years. After being carried in the belly of their mother for 280 days (40 weeks), they grow to an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″) and weight in at 62 kg (137 lbs), which is obviously highly individual.
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
Not really brothers and sisters, but from the same biological family (Tachyglossidae):
- Western long-beaked echidna becoming 31 years old
Animals that reach the same age as Short-beaked echidna
With an average age of 50 years, Short-beaked echidna are in good companionship of the following animals:
- Western gorilla usually reaching 54 years
- Agile gibbon usually reaching 44 years
- Harp seal usually reaching 42 years
- Dromedary usually reaching 40 years
- Chimpanzee usually reaching 60 years
- Indian rhinoceros usually reaching 49 years
- Humboldt’s white-fronted capuchin usually reaching 44 years
- Bornean orangutan usually reaching 60 years
- Hamadryas baboon usually reaching 40 years
- Bactrian camel usually reaching 40 years
Animals with the same number of babies Short-beaked echidna
The same number of babies at once (1) are born by:
- Red deer
- Long-tailed pangolin
- Steller sea lion
- Lowland paca
- Pemba flying fox
- Gerenuk
- Tree bat
- Northern greater galago
- Kolan vole
- Moonshine shrew
Weighting as much as Short-beaked echidna
A fully grown Short-beaked echidna reaches around 4.5 kg (9.92 lbs). So do these animals:
- Greater cane rat weighting 3.75 kilos (8.27 lbs) on average
- Red panda weighting 5.17 kilos (11.4 lbs) on average
- Southern tamandua weighting 4.73 kilos (10.43 lbs) on average
- Fisher (animal) weighting 3.75 kilos (8.27 lbs) on average
- Raccoon dog weighting 4.22 kilos (9.3 lbs) on average
- Pale-throated sloth weighting 4.33 kilos (9.55 lbs) on average
- Sechuran fox weighting 4.23 kilos (9.33 lbs) on average
- Red-necked pademelon weighting 5.4 kilos (11.9 lbs) on average
- Alaskan hare weighting 4.85 kilos (10.69 lbs) on average
- White-tailed mongoose weighting 3.66 kilos (8.07 lbs) on average
Animals as big as a Short-beaked echidna
Those animals grow as big as a Short-beaked echidna:
- Fennec fox with 37.5 cm (1′ 3″)
- Spotted linsang with 35.4 cm (1′ 2″)
- Tapeti with 36.3 cm (1′ 3″)
- Bushy-tailed mongoose with 44.6 cm (1′ 6″)
- Gilbert’s potoroo with 34.9 cm (1′ 2″)
- Livingstone’s fruit bat with 34 cm (1′ 2″)
- Brown greater galago with 30.7 cm (1′ 1″)
- White-nosed saki with 44 cm (1′ 6″)
- Black giant squirrel with 31.9 cm (1′ 1″)
- Southern giant slender-tailed cloud rat with 38.2 cm (1′ 4″)