echidna

noun echid·na \ i-ˈkid-nə \

Definition of echidna

:a spiny-coated toothless burrowing nocturnal monotreme mammal (Tachyglossus aculeatus) of Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea that has a long extensible tongue and long heavy claws and that feeds chiefly on ants; also :a related mammal (Zaglossus bruijni) of New Guinea having a longer snout and shorter spines

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Recent Examples of echidna from the Web

Scans his team has done of Australia's short-beaked echidna show a similar neural architecture to the thylacine, meaning that the brain circuits of these two animals could have evolved in a common ancestor more than 200 million years ago.

— ben panko, Smithsonian, "How Scientists Reconstructed the Brain of a Long-Extinct Beast," 19 Jan. 2017
All that remains of that branch of the family tree is the platypus and four species of echidna.

— National Geographic, "How the Venomous, Egg-Laying Platypus Evolved," 30 July 2016

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'echidna.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

There are two species of echidna. Both are egg-laying mammals that are stocky and virtually tailless. They have strong-clawed feet and spines on the upper part of a brownish body. The snout is narrow and the mouth is small, with a tongue that is long and sticky for feeding on termites and ants, their chief food. New Guinea echidnas are 18–31 in (45–78 cm) long and piglike. Valued for their meat, they are declining in numbers. Echidnas of Australia and Tasmania are 14–21 in (35–53 cm) long. Echidnas exude milk from mammary openings on the skin, and the young lap it up.