The echidna, often called the spiny anteater, is a unique mammal belonging to the monotremes, distinguished by their ability to lay eggs. Native to Australia and New Guinea, they inhabit diverse environments from forests to arid zones. The echidna’s survival hinges on its highly specialized diet and the remarkable physical adaptations it uses to find and consume food. Understanding what an echidna eats requires looking closely at its primary insect sources and the biological tools enabling this unique feeding strategy.
The Insectivorous Foundation of the Echidna Diet
Echidnas are classified as myrmecophagous, meaning their diet is largely composed of ants and termites. This insectivorous foundation means the vast majority of their energy comes from consuming these social insects, including their eggs and larvae. The widespread Short-beaked Echidna specifically targets termites and ants found in mounds, rotten logs, and under bark.
To meet their metabolic requirements, echidnas must consume a large volume of prey quickly. A Short-beaked Echidna can ingest approximately 200 grams of insects in as little as 10 minutes during a foraging session. They prefer the soft, less-defensive life stages of social insects, such as pupae, larvae, and winged adults. This preference helps them avoid aggressive, biting or stinging ants and termites.
While ants and termites dominate the diet, the echidna is an opportunistic forager. Their diet fluctuates based on the seasonal and regional availability of other invertebrates. Analysis of scat samples confirms that while ants are frequently consumed, other items, particularly the larvae of scarab beetles and moths, often make up a significant portion of their volume.
Specialized Tools for Hunting and Feeding
The echidna’s success as an insect hunter relies on specialized physical adaptations for digging, probing, and rapid collection. Their short, powerful limbs and large, shovel-like claws are built for excavation, allowing them to tear open termite mounds and rotten logs. The hind claws are curved backward, helping them move soil away while digging for prey or creating a defensive burrow.
Once a colony is breached, the echidna uses its long, tubular snout, or beak, to probe the exposed tunnels. The snout contains specialized sensory receptors, including electroreceptors, which help detect the faint electrical signals produced by insect prey. Their acute sense of smell also allows them to locate food deep underground.
The most defining tool is the echidna’s long, sticky tongue, which can be rapidly extended up to 18 centimeters (7 inches). This speed is essential for quickly gathering hundreds of insects before the colony defends itself. The tongue is coated in a glycoprotein-rich mucus that acts like an adhesive, ensuring prey sticks firmly for transport. Since the echidna has no teeth, it processes food by grinding insects between a horny pad at the base of the tongue and a hard surface on the roof of its mouth.
Regional and Species-Specific Dietary Variations
The ant and termite-focused diet is primarily characteristic of the widely distributed Short-beaked Echidna. However, dietary differences exist across the four recognized species. The three species of Long-beaked Echidnas, found exclusively in New Guinea, have a distinctly different primary food source. Their habitat, typically moist forest with rich leaf litter, dictates a shift in prey.
Long-beaked Echidnas primarily consume earthworms and insect larvae that live within the soil and decaying plant matter. Their beak and tongue structure is adapted to this diet, with the tongue possessing tiny, sharp spines that help secure the soft-bodied worms. This specialization means ants and termites are not central to their feeding strategy, contrasting sharply with their Australian relatives.
Even within the Short-beaked Echidna population, regional climate influences the specific diet composition. In drier, arid regions, the abundance of termites makes them a dominant food source alongside ants. Conversely, in cooler, temperate areas like Tasmania where termites are absent, the echidna’s diet diversifies. They consume a higher proportion of scarab beetle larvae and other soil-dwelling invertebrates, demonstrating a flexible foraging strategy tied to local insect availability.