WEBVTT - How Do Echidnas Work? 0:00:01.800 --> 0:00:04.320 Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio, 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:10.799 Hey brain Stuff Lauren vogebam here a. While be a 0:00:10.880 --> 0:00:14.080 kidnap is considered a mammal because it's warm blooded, has 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:16.520 hair on its body, and produces milk for its young. 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:20.439 This large hedgehog like creature is in a class of 0:00:20.440 --> 0:00:25.800 its own or very nearly. Kitnas are monotreames that means 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:29.440 they're mammals that lay eggs. For that reason, they're named 0:00:29.440 --> 0:00:33.880 after mythological monsters. In Greek mythology, Kitna was a half woman, 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:37.239 half snake creature perceived to have qualities of both mammals 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:41.800 and reptiles. There are only five species of monotreams in 0:00:41.800 --> 0:00:45.000 the world, four species of a chidnas, plus the duck 0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:49.640 billed platypus. The kidnap also has its own distinct look. 0:00:50.320 --> 0:00:52.639 For the article. This episode is based on hows to Work. 0:00:52.720 --> 0:00:56.480 Spoke by email with Rick Schwartz, San Diego Zoo Global Ambassador. 0:00:57.280 --> 0:00:59.840 He said the body of a short peaked to kidna 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:03.760 has dark fur, almost completely hidden by a covering of hollow, 0:01:04.000 --> 0:01:08.200 barblous quills called spines on its back and sides, while 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:11.759 long beaked kidneys have little fur and more visible spines. 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:15.280 The Beiesian black spines on all a kidney species are 0:01:15.319 --> 0:01:18.720 about two inches or five centimeters long and help camouflage 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:22.039 the kidney in the brush. They have very short legs, 0:01:22.240 --> 0:01:26.800 ideal for digging. Kidneys have a tiny face with small 0:01:26.800 --> 0:01:30.880 eyes and long or short noses, sometimes called beaks. Their 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:34.560 body is quite stocky, measuring from fifteen to thirty inches 0:01:34.600 --> 0:01:37.840 long that's thirty five to seventy cis and weighing for 0:01:38.000 --> 0:01:41.760 five to twenty pounds that's two to twenty kilos. With 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:44.200 those spines, they do look a bit like a hedgehog 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:47.560 or porcupine mixed with an ant eater, but they aren't 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:51.240 closely related to any of the above. The spines are 0:01:51.280 --> 0:01:54.000 made of caratin, like our pair and fingernails, and are 0:01:54.040 --> 0:01:57.520 a defensive measure against predators. If they can't run or hide, 0:01:57.600 --> 0:02:01.040 they can curl up into a spiny ball. They're found 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:04.800 throughout Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea, from the highlands to 0:02:04.840 --> 0:02:08.560 the deserts to the forests. The kidneys eat ants, grubs, 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:12.280 and termites, so digging for food is key. Areas with 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:15.200 loose top soil are ideal, though they can plow through 0:02:15.360 --> 0:02:19.000 hard packed dirt as well, and they also take advantage 0:02:19.040 --> 0:02:21.720 of a very strong sense of smell to locate their 0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:25.520 food underground or beneath wood or leaf litter. And they 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:29.160 also have a sixth sense that's most often associated with sharks, 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:33.519 electro reception, a specialized cells in their faces are sensitive 0:02:33.560 --> 0:02:36.600 to the electromagnetic signals that living things make when they 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:41.920 move around. They're the only land mammals that have this sense. However, 0:02:42.160 --> 0:02:46.720 what they don't have is teeth. Instead, they use their sticky, long, 0:02:46.840 --> 0:02:50.320 slender tongue to catch their food, but they do chew 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:53.679 in a way. A short said hard pads at the 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:55.399 base of the tongue and on the roof of its 0:02:55.400 --> 0:02:59.959 mouth grind food into a paste for swallowing. A kid 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:03.640 This have the lowest body temperature of any mammal, around 0:03:03.680 --> 0:03:07.720 eighty nine point six fahrenheit that's thirty two celsius. Schwartz 0:03:07.760 --> 0:03:11.400 explained their long lifespans up to fifty years and managed 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:16.880 settings are due to their low body temperature and slow metabolism. 0:03:16.919 --> 0:03:20.120 A kidnap reading season is during July and August winter 0:03:20.200 --> 0:03:24.760 in Australia, and their courtship rituals are complex. Schwartz said 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:28.200 male a kidnas often line up behind a female nose 0:03:28.280 --> 0:03:31.399 to tail, forming long trains up to ten a kidness long. 0:03:32.120 --> 0:03:34.600 When the female is finally ready to mate, the males 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:37.440 dig a trench in the ground around her. The males 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:39.800 compete for mating honors by pushing each other out of 0:03:39.840 --> 0:03:42.320 the trench. The last one remaining gets to mate with 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:48.560 the female. Female kidnas have a two branched reproductive tract 0:03:48.840 --> 0:03:51.840 and male a kidnas have a four headed penis to match, 0:03:52.400 --> 0:03:56.000 and Schwartz explained during sex, two of the heads shut 0:03:56.040 --> 0:03:59.320 down while the other two grow bigger. A kidnas alternate 0:03:59.360 --> 0:04:01.960 which heads they use when mating with different partners to 0:04:02.040 --> 0:04:06.560 improve their chances of becoming a father. An adult female 0:04:06.680 --> 0:04:10.120 kidna usually lays a single leathery egg once a year. 0:04:10.840 --> 0:04:13.960 Schwartz said. She rolls the newly laid egg, about the 0:04:13.960 --> 0:04:16.480 size of a grape, into a deep pocket or pouch 0:04:16.560 --> 0:04:19.640 on her belly to keep it safe, and ten days later, 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:23.120 the baby a kidna called a puggle hatches. It weighs 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:26.240 only about half as much as a miniature marshmallow, and 0:04:26.279 --> 0:04:29.440 the puggle uses its tiny sea through claws to grip 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:32.880 the special hairs within the mother's pouch. The mother does 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:36.159 not have nipples the way other mammals do. Instead, the 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:38.920 little puggle laps at milk that the mother's body secretes 0:04:39.040 --> 0:04:44.320 from special glands in her pouch, he continued. Fortunately for 0:04:44.360 --> 0:04:47.200 the mother, the puggle does not yet have spines sticking out. 0:04:47.680 --> 0:04:49.960 It remains in the pouch until its spines begin to 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:53.000 break through its skin at about fifty three days. Then 0:04:53.080 --> 0:04:55.440 the mother puts the puggle into a burrow, where she 0:04:55.560 --> 0:04:58.279 returns to feed it every five to ten days until 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:00.200 it's big enough to go out on its own at 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:08.000 about seven months old. Today's episode is based on the 0:05:08.080 --> 0:05:11.160 article the Kidna is one of the World's Strangest Mammals 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:13.520 on how stuff Works dot Com, written by Wendy Bowman. 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:16.159 Brain Stuff is production by Heart Radio and partnership with 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:18.599 how stuff works dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Clang. 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:22.280 Four more podcasts my Heart Radio, visit the heart Radio app, 0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:25.200 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.