Echidna Feeding Video Watch How an Echidna Eats
Like most Australian animals, echidnas feed during the mornings and evening when the temperatures are the coolest and rest during the hottest part of the day. In extremely hot climates they only forage for food at night.
The nostrils and electroreceptors at the tip of its beak help the echidna detect its food which is usually hidden away within a termite mound, anthill, a rotting log or under leaf litter. Once it have detected its prey the echidna uses its powerful claws to rip open a termite mound to the bark off or truck of a tree.
It then flicks its long sticky 15-centimeter tongue in and out to lap up its prey (see video). The echidna has no teeth. So it uses hard pads at the base of its tongue to push up against the roof of its mouth and grinds its meal into a paste before swallowing.
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