5 Surprising Mammals That Lay Eggs

mammals that lay eggs
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4. Western Long-Beaked Echidna

Now, let’s take a look at the Western Long-Beaked Echidna, the largest echidna on this planet. It weighs almost 40 pounds, and it can be found in New Guinea. It is a unique species of monotreme, a group of mammals that lay eggs.

The Western Long-Beaked Echidna is distinguished by its long snout, which it uses for searching for insects and other tiny prey. This time the menu changes a little, with earthworms being their favorite food. They still eat termites and ants, but earthworms are their preferred meal.

This echidna also has those spikes and strong claws, but it is not really the aggressive type. This means that if it encounters danger or a treat, it will prefer to curl up into a spikey ball and hope everything will be fine.

As for their mating habits, we can say that the Western Long-Beaked Echidna mates only once a year, during the summer. Usually, the female echidna has only one baby, and this is really sad because they are an endangered species.

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