Is the spiny anteater an omnivore?

Answer 1

The spiny anteater, more correctly known as the echidna, has the following adaptations in order to find its food:

• A long tongue with sticky saliva, with which it eats termites and ants.
• A long snout which makes it easy for the echidna to burrow for ants, termites and worms.
• The echidna has sharp claws for digging, and this ability to dig effectively is helped by its compact, muscular body shape and strong forelegs. It commonly digs into termite nests to catch its food.

Answer 2

The Spiny anteater, more properly known as the echidna, lives almost exclusively on termites, although it also eats ants.

Echidnas have large claws for breaking open termite mounds (which, in much of Australia, are made from mud). They have long sticky tongues, about 15cm long, with which they catch the termites. Echidnas also look for termites under old, rotting logs, their preferred locale.

Answer 3

To begin with, the spiny anteater is not a true anteater, but a monotreme. It is not related to the anteater family. Its proper name is "echidna'.

Echidnas are between 30cm and 45cm long, with a mass of 2kg to 5kg. Echidnas in the south are larger than their northern counterparts.

Insulating an echidna's body is fur which varies in colour from light brown to darker brown, reddish brown and sometimes black. The further north an echidna lives, the lighter the colouring. They can be quite light brown in northern areas of Australia, and black in Tasmania. Again, echidnas in the south have thicker fur than that of their northern counterparts.

More obvious are their lighter-coloured spines which protrude up to 5cm long, and protect them from predators. They do not have spines on their stomachs.

Echidnas also have long snouts with which they sniff out termites, which are then caught on the echidna's 15cm long tongue. They have sharp claws for digging into termite mounds, though they prefer to find their termites under rotting logs.

During breeding season, the female echidna develops a pouch, where she lays and incubates her egg. The pouch is little more than a fold of skin, and even the male can develop a pouch.

Answer 4

Echidnas have a number of adaptations to help them find and obtain their food. They have:

• A long tongue with sticky saliva, with which it eats termites and ants
• A long snout which makes it easy for the echidna to burrow for ants, termites and worms
• The echidna has sharp claws for digging, and this ability to dig effectively is helped by its compact, muscular body shape and strong forelegs. Although this is more digging burrows, it also enables the echidna to dig into termite mounds.

Answer 5

It is a monotreme, this means it's one of only 2 types of mammals that lay eggs. The other is the platypus.

Answer 6

No. The spiny anteater, more correctly known as the echidna, is purely insectivorous, feeding almost exclusively on termites (its preferred food) and ants.