this is a female echidna and the echidna
and the platypus stand apart as being
the only two living egg-laying mammals
well the echidna has spines and if you
look carefully you can see spines are
mainly on the back and they’ve got a
very spiny tail she’s attracted the
attention of one male kidding isn’t
normally solitary except during the
mating season but because of the strong
sense of smell
males are attracted to the females
during the mating season both the males
and the females tend to lose weight
because the females are constantly being
harassed by the males and the males are
too busy to eat and as she comes out
there we can see one then two males that
have been attracted and here’s a third
and you can see the male using his beak
waving it round putting it putting it
close to the female now there’s probably
smelling inspecting and checking but I
think also there’s so sort of tactile
stimulation that he hopes to get the
female ready to mate they’re promiscuous
because the females are certainly mating
with a large number of different males
and the males are mating with as many
females as they possibly can this all
looks like cute cuddly fun but it’s
pretty deadly important for the echidnas
because if they don’t get the mating
then they’re not passing on their genes
as soon as she stops the males try to
lift up her rear end and within weeks
and mate with it okay the three males
have walked on but now one of them
realizes what’s happened – is back he’s
on the line she’s she’s not being
chaperoned
and he’s actually starts to mate he’s
got his tail killed underneath that
and the Second Mile realizes what’s
going on and he desperately tries to
break it up by pushing the pushing that
mail away in Tasmania what’s happening
is that they’ll mate and then go back
into hibernation see okay that’s over
with let’s get back to what I wanted to
do
you
and the platypus stand apart as being
the only two living egg-laying mammals
well the echidna has spines and if you
look carefully you can see spines are
mainly on the back and they’ve got a
very spiny tail she’s attracted the
attention of one male kidding isn’t
normally solitary except during the
mating season but because of the strong
sense of smell
males are attracted to the females
during the mating season both the males
and the females tend to lose weight
because the females are constantly being
harassed by the males and the males are
too busy to eat and as she comes out
there we can see one then two males that
have been attracted and here’s a third
and you can see the male using his beak
waving it round putting it putting it
close to the female now there’s probably
smelling inspecting and checking but I
think also there’s so sort of tactile
stimulation that he hopes to get the
female ready to mate they’re promiscuous
because the females are certainly mating
with a large number of different males
and the males are mating with as many
females as they possibly can this all
looks like cute cuddly fun but it’s
pretty deadly important for the echidnas
because if they don’t get the mating
then they’re not passing on their genes
as soon as she stops the males try to
lift up her rear end and within weeks
and mate with it okay the three males
have walked on but now one of them
realizes what’s happened – is back he’s
on the line she’s she’s not being
chaperoned
and he’s actually starts to mate he’s
got his tail killed underneath that
and the Second Mile realizes what’s
going on and he desperately tries to
break it up by pushing the pushing that
mail away in Tasmania what’s happening
is that they’ll mate and then go back
into hibernation see okay that’s over
with let’s get back to what I wanted to
do
you
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