Thorny Devil

• GeneralIt channels dew along grooves in its skin to its mouth, and eats almost nothing but ants.
• fisiologíaIt can take up water straight through its skin, through capillary channels between its scales that carry it to the mouth.
• It drinks through its skin: a network of microscopic channels between the scales collects dew, rain or even moisture from damp sand and carries it by capillary action to the corners of its mouth, against gravity.
• It has a false head: a spiny knob on the nape that it presents when it tucks the real one down, offering a predator a solid decoy target.
• It eats nothing but ants, as many as three thousand a day taken one at a time, and its feeding rhythm is synchronised with the ant columns of the Australian desert.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (reptile)

Habitat and environment

Sandy desert and spinifex scrub of the arid interior of Australia

Size at birth

About 6.5 cm on hatching

Sexual maturity

3 years

Gestation / incubation

120 days of incubation

Litter / clutch size

8 eggs

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moloch_horridus

Best time: From August to December in the Australian desert, by day, walking slowly along sandy tracks; at the height of summer it becomes less active.

The pins mark the parks where its presence is documented.