the name beak-hedgehogs therefore touches, that the body of these animals is covered with thorns mainly and the long, tubular muzzle like a beak looks. they are widespread in its home Australia and don't yet endanger.
Physique The body is clumsy and penetrated. From the tail, only a small stub is to be recognized. The relatively short legs stand at the side far apart. The feet are fortified with 3-5 claws. The second is especially long and is used as finery-claw in order to clean fur and thorn-dress. The hearing is good; however, the ear-mussels are small or are missing completely; only a narrow ear-split is visible in this case. The beak of the beak or ant-hedgehogs is with a powerful horn-vagina covers. The mouth-opening is narrow and only leaves exactly so much place that stuck out the long, worm-shaped tongue far and with which can be pulled in adhesive loot again at it. Big glands in the mouth-area always provide it amply with gluey saliva, that is an important aid when picking up the food. Beak-hedgehogs never have real teeth. The tongue is verhornter humps for it at its reason with a multiplicity busy. they work against horny palate-strips and squash the food so.
At the reproductive-time, the female animals train a brood-bag, that cannot be confused with the bag of the marsupials, in the stomach-middle. it has muscular walls and is created on until now not yet clarified manner through in-lowering of the stomach-blanket. If the stomach-musculature Z. B. in narcosis drooped, it vanishes again. 2 milk-glandular-fields, whose secretions of some hair-tufts further-glides, lead in this bag, for which also Inkubatorium is called, becomes.
Way of life Beak-hedgehogs live in forest and parklands like bush-steppe-areas as well, has a special preference for stony and rocky terrain, however. In valleys, they are like in high-situations to be found equally until 2500 m. These clumsy, short-legged animals develop a skill, that one would not expect them, in rough terrain. With its long, very powerful claws, they always find good hold in unevenness of the underground. Also the short, stocky legs prove to be advantage here. If one wants to observe the animals in freedom, one must find some patience and must be willing to give up a night-silence. they leave its shelter, in which they overslept the day, only in the twilight namely. During the day, they are to rarely and only be seen in quiet, undisturbed areas. Beak-hedgehogs hold a hibernation in restrained widths and bigger heights if the temperatures sink too far and its food-animals become scarce. The metabolism is reduced by hormones on that occasion.
With danger, they dig themselves very fast in with all four feet simultaneously so that it looks as they sink in the ground. There they become wedged so firmly with its mighty claws and the lateral thorns that it is impossible without tools to remove it from this pit. From the ground, the back-thorns only protrude and make the beak-hedgehog for each enemy unassailable. If the underground is to hard to burying, then, they roll up themselves like our native hedgehogs and form a thorn-ball, at which the aggressor gets a bloody nose and stung paws for himself. These animals have only few real enemies for this reason. The Australian natives catch and eat it occasionally, however.
Beak-hedgehogs don't have any voice. They let an annoyed snort or puffing sometimes heard. Individually they wander through the terrain and put its pointed nose into each attainable column or deepening in order to look for feed.
Nutrition Ant-hedgehogs eat above all ants and termites, but also small snails, worms and other small animals, that stick at the worm-shaped tongue and through-fit through the narrow mouth-opening. If the excellent sense of smell spotted a food-animal, so the gluey tongue shoots far out and vanishes again just as fast in the tubular horn-beak with its loot. In general, beak-hedgehogs don't dig for food but catches only that, which they find on the ground or can reach after revolutionizing from stones, branches or bark-pieces with the tongue. In the area of Canberra, however, one could observe quite special Freßgewohnheiten. Here, they break August, September and Octobers with its sharp claws of determined ant-hills open in the months. Because at this time, the queens are shortly in the run-up to the wedding-flight and contain in its body up to 47 percent of fat. Probably these nourishing insects are especially important for the ant-hedgehogs if they wake up from the hibernation. At its forage, the thorn-bearers revolutionize stones and develop astonishing strength on that occasion. Even scraps of the double of its net weight don't hinder it.
Ant-hedgehogs can gain a quite high age. By an animal, who lived on Philadelphia / USA in the zoological garden long time, it is certainly proved that it became older than 50 years. How however, it was old real with its death, one doesn't know.
Reproduction Beak-hedgehogs are loners. Males and females find themselves only to the combination-time end of June and in July together. The combination-position with these thorn-bearers is stomach against stomach. The one egg becomes after an egg-educational-time of approximately one month, it rarely is 2 or 3, cast off. How the egg reaches into the stomach-bag, is unknown; however, one assumes that it in-glides directly from the sewer into the Inkubatorium through strong in-curvature of the body. The yolk-rich egg is 14-17 mm long and 13-15 mm wide. A tiny even bare and blind beak-hedgehog opens the parchment-good peel 7-10 days after the deposit of the eggs. its egg-tooth helps it with it, a sharp horn-tooth of the beak-top, that gets lost soon after slipping. Exactly a length of approximately 12 has the larva-like little animal mm. After 6-8 weeks of bag-time, it measures almost 10 cm thanks to the very nourishing mother's milk. Gradually, the body-hairs grow, but simultaneously also the thorns. Therefore the young must remain behind in its shelter while the mother goes on food-search. Approximately, the small beak-hedgehog opens the eyes with 10 weeks. it is sexually mature in the age of one year. The weight then is between, 2,5 and 6 kg; full-grown males are considerably heavier than female animals.
System 2 types belong to the family of the beak-hedgehogs with one today living type each.
Short-beak-hedgehogs (Tachyglossus aculeatus)) they are 35-53 cm long long tail with 9 cm, weigh 2,5-6 kg, are very short-legged and have a short, straight beak. them always lack the ear-mussels. All 5 toes carry powerful claws. Oberseits are it colored tawny until brown, however, also sallow-white and dark brown forms occur. The underside is usually lighter.
The female, who is smaller than the male, usually puts 1 eggs (rarely 2-3), that are 14-17 mm long. It is hatched 7-8 days in the bag. The young is approximately 12 mm long when slipping. It leaves the bag after 6-8 weeks and then is 9-10 cm long. The animals become sexually mature with one year and have a life expectancy of over 50 years. One counts 5 subtypes of the short-beak-hedgehog today. The subtype (Tachyglossus aculeatus setosus) native in Tasmania is to be recognized by its long fur, in which the thorns are masked.
Long-beak-hedgehogs (Zaglossus bruijni)) they are clearly bigger than its relatives. The beak is long and bent. Small ear-mussels are recognizable with them. The thorns are short and in the thick fur hidden. The type occurs only in New Guinea.
Long-beak-hedgehogs are night-active. they live mainly or even exclusively from earthworms. Nothing known almost is over its behavior, for example the reproduction.
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