1 00:00:01,800 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio, 2 00:00:06,720 --> 00:00:10,799 Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff Lauren vogebam here a. While be a 3 00:00:10,880 --> 00:00:14,080 Speaker 1: kidnap is considered a mammal because it's warm blooded, has 4 00:00:14,120 --> 00:00:16,520 Speaker 1: hair on its body, and produces milk for its young. 5 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:20,439 Speaker 1: This large hedgehog like creature is in a class of 6 00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:25,800 Speaker 1: its own or very nearly. Kitnas are monotreames that means 7 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:29,440 Speaker 1: they're mammals that lay eggs. For that reason, they're named 8 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:33,880 Speaker 1: after mythological monsters. In Greek mythology, Kitna was a half woman, 9 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:37,239 Speaker 1: half snake creature perceived to have qualities of both mammals 10 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:41,800 Speaker 1: and reptiles. There are only five species of monotreams in 11 00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:45,000 Speaker 1: the world, four species of a chidnas, plus the duck 12 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:49,640 Speaker 1: billed platypus. The kidnap also has its own distinct look. 13 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:52,639 Speaker 1: For the article. This episode is based on hows to Work. 14 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:56,480 Speaker 1: Spoke by email with Rick Schwartz, San Diego Zoo Global Ambassador. 15 00:00:57,280 --> 00:00:59,840 Speaker 1: He said the body of a short peaked to kidna 16 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:03,760 Speaker 1: has dark fur, almost completely hidden by a covering of hollow, 17 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:08,200 Speaker 1: barblous quills called spines on its back and sides, while 18 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:11,759 Speaker 1: long beaked kidneys have little fur and more visible spines. 19 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:15,280 Speaker 1: The Beiesian black spines on all a kidney species are 20 00:01:15,319 --> 00:01:18,720 Speaker 1: about two inches or five centimeters long and help camouflage 21 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:22,039 Speaker 1: the kidney in the brush. They have very short legs, 22 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:26,800 Speaker 1: ideal for digging. Kidneys have a tiny face with small 23 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:30,880 Speaker 1: eyes and long or short noses, sometimes called beaks. Their 24 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:34,560 Speaker 1: body is quite stocky, measuring from fifteen to thirty inches 25 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:37,840 Speaker 1: long that's thirty five to seventy cis and weighing for 26 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:41,760 Speaker 1: five to twenty pounds that's two to twenty kilos. With 27 00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:44,200 Speaker 1: those spines, they do look a bit like a hedgehog 28 00:01:44,319 --> 00:01:47,560 Speaker 1: or porcupine mixed with an ant eater, but they aren't 29 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:51,240 Speaker 1: closely related to any of the above. The spines are 30 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:54,000 Speaker 1: made of caratin, like our pair and fingernails, and are 31 00:01:54,040 --> 00:01:57,520 Speaker 1: a defensive measure against predators. If they can't run or hide, 32 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:01,040 Speaker 1: they can curl up into a spiny ball. They're found 33 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:04,800 Speaker 1: throughout Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea, from the highlands to 34 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:08,560 Speaker 1: the deserts to the forests. The kidneys eat ants, grubs, 35 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:12,280 Speaker 1: and termites, so digging for food is key. Areas with 36 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:15,200 Speaker 1: loose top soil are ideal, though they can plow through 37 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:19,000 Speaker 1: hard packed dirt as well, and they also take advantage 38 00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:21,720 Speaker 1: of a very strong sense of smell to locate their 39 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:25,520 Speaker 1: food underground or beneath wood or leaf litter. And they 40 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:29,160 Speaker 1: also have a sixth sense that's most often associated with sharks, 41 00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:33,519 Speaker 1: electro reception, a specialized cells in their faces are sensitive 42 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:36,600 Speaker 1: to the electromagnetic signals that living things make when they 43 00:02:36,639 --> 00:02:41,920 Speaker 1: move around. They're the only land mammals that have this sense. However, 44 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:46,720 Speaker 1: what they don't have is teeth. Instead, they use their sticky, long, 45 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:50,320 Speaker 1: slender tongue to catch their food, but they do chew 46 00:02:50,440 --> 00:02:53,679 Speaker 1: in a way. A short said hard pads at the 47 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:55,399 Speaker 1: base of the tongue and on the roof of its 48 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:59,959 Speaker 1: mouth grind food into a paste for swallowing. A kid 49 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:03,640 Speaker 1: This have the lowest body temperature of any mammal, around 50 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:07,720 Speaker 1: eighty nine point six fahrenheit that's thirty two celsius. Schwartz 51 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:11,400 Speaker 1: explained their long lifespans up to fifty years and managed 52 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:16,880 Speaker 1: settings are due to their low body temperature and slow metabolism. 53 00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:20,120 Speaker 1: A kidnap reading season is during July and August winter 54 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:24,760 Speaker 1: in Australia, and their courtship rituals are complex. Schwartz said 55 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:28,200 Speaker 1: male a kidnas often line up behind a female nose 56 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:31,399 Speaker 1: to tail, forming long trains up to ten a kidness long. 57 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:34,600 Speaker 1: When the female is finally ready to mate, the males 58 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:37,440 Speaker 1: dig a trench in the ground around her. The males 59 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:39,800 Speaker 1: compete for mating honors by pushing each other out of 60 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:42,320 Speaker 1: the trench. The last one remaining gets to mate with 61 00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:48,560 Speaker 1: the female. Female kidnas have a two branched reproductive tract 62 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:51,840 Speaker 1: and male a kidnas have a four headed penis to match, 63 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:56,000 Speaker 1: and Schwartz explained during sex, two of the heads shut 64 00:03:56,040 --> 00:03:59,320 Speaker 1: down while the other two grow bigger. A kidnas alternate 65 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:01,960 Speaker 1: which heads they use when mating with different partners to 66 00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:06,560 Speaker 1: improve their chances of becoming a father. An adult female 67 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:10,120 Speaker 1: kidna usually lays a single leathery egg once a year. 68 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:13,960 Speaker 1: Schwartz said. She rolls the newly laid egg, about the 69 00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:16,480 Speaker 1: size of a grape, into a deep pocket or pouch 70 00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:19,640 Speaker 1: on her belly to keep it safe, and ten days later, 71 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:23,120 Speaker 1: the baby a kidna called a puggle hatches. It weighs 72 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:26,240 Speaker 1: only about half as much as a miniature marshmallow, and 73 00:04:26,279 --> 00:04:29,440 Speaker 1: the puggle uses its tiny sea through claws to grip 74 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:32,880 Speaker 1: the special hairs within the mother's pouch. The mother does 75 00:04:32,920 --> 00:04:36,159 Speaker 1: not have nipples the way other mammals do. Instead, the 76 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:38,920 Speaker 1: little puggle laps at milk that the mother's body secretes 77 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:44,320 Speaker 1: from special glands in her pouch, he continued. Fortunately for 78 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:47,200 Speaker 1: the mother, the puggle does not yet have spines sticking out. 79 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:49,960 Speaker 1: It remains in the pouch until its spines begin to 80 00:04:49,960 --> 00:04:53,000 Speaker 1: break through its skin at about fifty three days. Then 81 00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:55,440 Speaker 1: the mother puts the puggle into a burrow, where she 82 00:04:55,560 --> 00:04:58,279 Speaker 1: returns to feed it every five to ten days until 83 00:04:58,279 --> 00:05:00,200 Speaker 1: it's big enough to go out on its own at 84 00:05:00,200 --> 00:05:08,000 Speaker 1: about seven months old. Today's episode is based on the 85 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:11,160 Speaker 1: article the Kidna is one of the World's Strangest Mammals 86 00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:13,520 Speaker 1: on how stuff Works dot Com, written by Wendy Bowman. 87 00:05:13,880 --> 00:05:16,159 Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production by Heart Radio and partnership with 88 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:18,599 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Clang. 89 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:22,280 Speaker 1: Four more podcasts my Heart Radio, visit the heart Radio app, 90 00:05:22,360 --> 00:05:25,200 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.