Australia’s spiky, shuffling, egg-laying echidna evolved in ‘extremely rare’ event, scientists say

Australia’s burrowing echidna evolved from a water-dwelling ancestor in an “extremely rare” biological event, scientists said in a new study of the peculiar egg-laying mammals. With powerful digging claws, protective spikes and highly sensitive beaks, echidnas are well suited to a life shuffling through the forest undergrowth. But a team of Australian and international scientists […]

---

Australia’s burrowing echidna evolved from a water-dwelling ancestor in an “extremely rare” biological event, scientists said in a new study of the peculiar egg-laying mammals. With powerful digging claws, protective spikes and highly sensitive beaks, echidnas are well suited to a life shuffling through the forest undergrowth. But a team of Australian and international scientists …