Perth Zoo’s groundbreaking Echidna
breeding program has produced two puggles (baby Echidnas) and a breeding milestone: These
puggles represent the first successful breeding from zoo-born Echidnas and have
shown that Echidnas breed at a younger age than previously thought.

The puggles were born to four-year-old first-time mothers
Mila and Chindi, both bred and born at Perth Zoo.  The new additions were named Nyingarn (Nyoongar
for Echidna) and Babbin (Nyoongar for friend).  The puggles weighed less than one gram each
when they hatched in August and spent their first two months in their mothers’
pouches before being deposited in nursery burrows. DNA testing will reveal the
puggles’ genders.

“Until now, it was believed female Echidnas did not breed
until the age of five so these latest births have shed new light on Echidna
reproduction,” Environment Minister Bill Marmion said.  The groundbreaking work of the Perth Zoo’s Short-beaked
Echidna breeding program could help conserve its endangered cousin, the
Long-beaked Echidna.  The Perth Zoo has
produced eight of the 24 Short-beaked Echidnas that have been bred in
captivity.

Short-beaked Echidnas are part of
a group of mammals called monotremes. 
Females lay a single egg, which is incubated for about 11 days before it
hatches.  The baby, called a puggle,
completes its development in the mother’s pouch.  As adults, Short-beaked Echidnas are covered
with spines.  They feed on insects, which
are collected with their long, sticky tongues.

Photo Credit:  Perth Zoo