In certain situations, there are animals that seem almost immortal as they not only survive but thrive in extreme circumstances, says Sheena Harvey. The world’s most indestructible animals on Earth The animal that can survive fire The trick the echidna, an Australian egg-laying mammal, employs to stay alive despite all around them being destroyed by a wildfire was only discovered in […]
Tag: Echidnas
Australia’s spiky, shuffling, egg-laying echidna evolved in ‘extremely rare’ event, scientists say
Australia’s burrowing echidna evolved from a water-dwelling ancestor in an “extremely rare” biological event, scientists said in a new study of the peculiar egg-laying mammals. With powerful digging claws, protective spikes and highly sensitive beaks, echidnas are well suited to a life shuffling through the forest undergrowth. But a team of Australian and international scientists […]
Tiger shark vomits echidna, shocking Australian scientists
A tiger shark has surprised Australian scientists on an ocean research trip by regurgitating a spiky land-loving echidna in front of them. Researchers from James Cook University were tagging marine life on the northeast coast when the three-meter tiger shark they caught vomited a dead echidna—a spiny creature similar to a hedgehog. Nicolas Lubitz said […]