Comments | wtf_nature: Echidna!

eyeteeth in wtf_nature

Echidna!

Nov 04, 2007 13:00

Sure, everyone's gone "WTF" over the platypus, but what about its even weirder cousin the echidna (also known more descriptively as the spiny anteater)? Together, they are the only surviving examples of the oldest mammals ever to exist, the monotremes. Monotremes have fur, and some of them sometimes have pouches in which their young develop, but ( Read more... )

monotreme, echidna, mammal, spiny anteaters

Comments 23

voodooskeleton November 4 2007, 18:10:47 UTC

I wish humans could bury THEIR babies and only come back for it every five or ten days just to feed it.

deg_chick November 4 2007, 19:39:27 UTC

Ok. Everytime I hear the name Echidna I instantly want Mexican food.

Btw, probably they best wtf_nature in existance. You are full of win.

eyeteeth November 4 2007, 20:02:51 UTC

I knew I was full of something, I'm glad that's what it is.

deg_chick November 4 2007, 20:25:38 UTC

Well...theres some organs in there too...but they are overpowered by awesome and echidna love chains. 00ntz 00ntz

oontz oontz eyeteeth November 4 2007, 21:06:55 UTC

Echidna rave!

Thread 8

misswithers November 4 2007, 20:41:07 UTC

Thank you. I found a picture of this creature online on a german site and didn't know the name. Then at a garage sale, my friend bought a little stuffed animal Echidna, but insisted it was a hedgehog, and I kept saying, "No it's that other thing!" but no one believed me. Everyone kept saying, "It's a hedgehog!"

mushroom_maiden November 4 2007, 22:56:35 UTC

Being australian, I don't find platypi or echidnas WTF anymore since we've had the facts shoved down or throats since we were 6, however I did not know they bury their babies! i also didn't know about the mating thing! or the penis! wtf! Why didn't they teach us any of the interesting stuff in primary school??

eyeteeth November 4 2007, 23:07:13 UTC

Mammals had to jump through a lot of hoops to reproduce before placentalism came along, it seems. "Where the hell do I put this fetus? In a pouch? Under a bush? In a hole? If only there were a specialized organ to contain it."

You guys have some crazy animals down your way. That would be a good marketing slogan for monotremes: "Even Australians think they're kind of weird."

nonamouse November 5 2007, 04:56:39 UTC

"Where the hell do I put this fetus? In a pouch? Under a bush? In a hole? If only there were a specialized organ to contain it."

LOL, yeah. I like how you described them as having the "free demo version" of lactation. Because it's so true.

new_shit November 4 2007, 23:16:24 UTC

So does it have four testicles too?