People Take In Chubbiest Little Echidna They've Ever Seen

[catbyte]

"How gorgeous is she" 😍

BY CAITLIN JILL ANDERS

When Hayes first arrived at Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary in Tasmania, her rescuers couldn’t believe their eyes. The echidna had been brought in after she was clipped by a car so she could be checked over for any injuries, but it wasn’t her story that was captivating everyone.

It was her size.

A typical echidna of her age usually weighs around 6.5 to 7.5 pounds — but chubby Hayes weighed over 10 pounds, and no one could get over just how cute she was. Sometimes it’s concerning if an animal weighs more than they should, but in Hayes’ case, she’s literally just living her best life.



“She is definitely a big girl. However, this indicates that she is foraging well and thriving in her environment,” Karen Tyrrell, a member of the Bonorong administration team, told The Dodo.

Hayes is perfect just the way she is, and everyone was so excited to meet such an adorable, happy echidna.

“How gorgeous is she,” Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary wrote on its Facebook page.



The very chubby lady was incredibly calm as her rescuers checked her over to make sure she hadn’t been hurt by the car, and they were delighted to find that she was completely OK. This meant she could be released back into the wild right away — but, of course, everyone was sad to see her go.

Everyone who interacted with Hayes was so thrilled they got to meet the world’s chubbiest echidna. She’s back in the wild now, and there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that she’s going to continue to live her best life, thick and thriving.

https://www.thedodo.com/in-the-wild/sanctuary-takes-in-chubbiest-echidna-ever

[mr_lebowski]

1. What an odd creature ...

Didn't know we had those.

Sloth family by chance?

Or marsupial?

[yewberry]

2. No, they're most closely related the platypus.

But that's not really very close at all. They are egg-laying mammals and they have electrosensors in their snouts to help them locate prey (ants and termites). And males have a non-venomous spur on their hind feet--unlike the platypus whose spurs are venomous.

Really interesting creatures!

[mr_lebowski]

4. Aaaah ... a monotreme ... thanks for that ...

And the evolution deniers say there are no 'bridge species' ... lol. These critters would seem to definitely meet their criteria ... although they're bullshit criteria to begin with ...

[KY_EnviroGuy]

3. Echidna details in brief (Wiki)....

Echidna

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echidna

(snip)

Echidnas (/ɪˈkɪdnə/), sometimes known as spiny anteaters, belong to the family Tachyglossidae in the monotreme order of egg-laying mammals. The four extant species of Echidnas and the platypus are the only living mammals that lay eggs and the only surviving members of the order Monotremata. The diet of some species consists of ants and termites, but they are not closely related to the true anteaters of the Americas, which are xenarthrans, along with sloths and armadillos. Echidnas live in Australia and New Guinea.

Echidnas evolved between 20 and 50 million years ago, descending from a platypus-like monotreme. This ancestor was aquatic, but echidnas adapted to life on land.
+++++
Echidnas are medium-sized, solitary mammals covered with coarse hair and spines.

Superficially, they resemble the anteaters of South America and other spiny mammals such as hedgehogs and porcupines. They are usually black or brown in colour. There have been several reports of albino echidnas, their eyes pink and their spines white. They have elongated and slender snouts that function as both mouth and nose. Like the platypus, they are equipped with electrosensors, but while the platypus has 40,000 electroreceptors on its bill, the long-beaked echidna has only 2,000 electroreceptors, and the short-beaked echidna, which lives in a drier environment, has no more than 400 located at the tip of its snout. They have very short, strong limbs with large claws, and are powerful diggers. Their claws on their hind limbs are elongated and curved backwards to help aid in digging. Echidnas have tiny mouths and toothless jaws. The echidna feeds by tearing open soft logs, anthills and the like, and using its long, sticky tongue, which protrudes from its snout, to collect prey. The ears are slits on the sides of their heads that are usually unseen, as they are blanketed by their spines. The external ear is created by a large cartilaginous funnel, deep in the muscle. At 33 °C, the echidna also possess the second lowest active body temperature of all mammals, behind the platypus.

Credit:
By Gunjan Pandey - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73576568

Thanks for posting, Catbyte..........