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Rare egg laying mammal spotted in Australia
Interesting Creatures
By: Shervin Belgrave
Kaieteur News – A rare egg laying mammal has become a celebrity after it was found wandering in an Australian city, one of the country’s media house reported.
Shervin Belgrave
The media entity, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) identified the creature as an albino short-beaked echidna. The individual who found the creature has reportedly named it Raffie.
Echidnas resemble ant eaters and are covered with quills like a porcupine. They are normally brown and black in coloration but the one found in Australia is of a rare species known as the short-beaked echidna. “Raffie” is also white (Albino) in colour, making him even more rare to find in the world.
Raffie, the Albino Short-beaked Echinda foind in Australia
Raffie albinism is caused by a genetic condition that leads to lower production of the pigment melanin in the hair, skin and eyes. Normally short-beaked Echidnas are mostly brown in colour and have a distinctive snout and a specialized tongue, it uses to catch insects at great speed.
Normal Short-beaked echidnas
These animals live in burrows underground and have the unique ability to tolerate low levels of oxygen. Short-beak Echidnas do not sweat and while some might say it’s a good thing, it puts the animal at a disadvantage when it comes to hot climate.
However, the most interesting about the echidnas is that it is one of few mammals that lay eggs.
After mating, the females would lay a single rubbery-skinned egg that measures between 13 and 17 millimetres. The egg is formed into a small backward-facing pouch that develops on her abdomen and will remain there until hatched. It takes ten days for the egg to hatch. For this to happen, the embryo inside would develop a sharp tooth which disappears after hatching to rip itself free from the egg.
Hatchlings measure about 1.5 centimetres and are called “puggles”. Although newborns are semi-translucent and still surrounded by the remains of the egg yolk, their eyes are still barely developed.
To feed, the hatchlings attach themselves to their mothers’ milk areolae, (specialised patches on the skin that secrete milk).
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