The life history of an egg-laying mammal, the echidna

Abstract

Echidnas have a low metabolic rate, and energy expenditure is reduced even further by the use of torpor and hibernation. Thus echidnas appear to lie at the slow extreme of the fast-slow continuum, and this is reflected in many aspects of echidna life history: a long life, a long lactation period, and a single young which matures late. Reproductive activity occurs in mid-winter, shortly after arousal from hibernation. After a pregnancy of about 3 weeks the female lays a single egg into her pouch, which hatches after 10 – 11 days. Initially the young is incubated in the pouch before being left in the nursery burrow while the mother forages for ants, termites and other invertebrates. Lactation lasts for 150 - 200 days, the duration differing significantly between geographic regions. Growth rates during late lactation are very high, and, when weaned, the young has reached about 40% of adult mass. The young loses mass before entering its first hibernation, which extends from early autumn to late spring. The young echidna reaches adult mass after about 3 - 5 years.