Species group · Mammals

Long-beaked Echidnas

WAnimals has 3 species of long-beaked echidna, in the family Tachyglossidae.

3 species

1 family

3 countries

56 parks

Ranges calculated from the profiles that record the figure, not from all 3.

All 3 species of long-beaked echidnas on WAnimals

Each one has its own full profile. This group does not replace them: it brings them together.

Short-beaked Echidna

Tachyglossus aculeatus

Eastern Long-beaked Echidna

Zaglossus bartoni

Western Long-beaked Echidna

Zaglossus bruijnii

1 Least Concern1 Vulnerable1 Critically Endangered

2 species in this group are in a threatened category according to the IUCN.

Recorded in 3 countries. The ones with the most species in the group:

It is exceptionally long-lived for its size, ageing remarkably slowly.
From Short-beaked Echidna
It eats ants and termites, drawn out on its long sticky tongue.
From Short-beaked Echidna
It lives in a wide range of habitats in Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea, from forest to arid country.
From Short-beaked Echidna
It is the largest egg-laying mammal in the world: it lays eggs and can weigh more than 16 kilos.
From Eastern Long-beaked Echidna
It detects prey with electroreceptors at the tip of its snout, a sense that among mammals is shared only by the echidnas and the platypus.
From Eastern Long-beaked Echidna
In November 2023 a scientific expedition filmed it alive in the Cyclops Mountains after more than sixty years without a confirmed record.
From Western Long-beaked Echidna
Like all monotremes, the female lays a leathery egg that she incubates in a temporary pouch and then feeds the young on milk that seeps through the pores of her skin, since she has no teats.
From Western Long-beaked Echidna