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Monotremes

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Transcript

Monotremes

by marta

Behaviors

·Monotremes are solitary and females have well established home ranges, while males have larger home ranges and compete for matings.

·All the monotremes have low metabolic rates, but echidna metabolic rates are extremely low, and short-beaked echidnas in cooler areas show long periods of hibernation.

Reproduction

Monotremes are the only living mammals where females lay eggs instead of giving live birth. They lay a single egg in a temporary protective pouch on the mother's belly. Also they produce milk for their offspring from mammary glands through holes in their skin.

Nutrition

They are semiaquatic carnivore-insectivore , and the echidnas have a specialized diet of small invertebrates such as ants, termites, and worms.

How long have monotremes been around ?

Fossils of a jaw fragment 110 million years old were found at Lightning Ridge, New South Wales. These fragments, from the species Steropodon galmani, are the oldest known fossils of monotremes.

Environment

Monotremes are found in Australia and New Guinea. Distribution and Habitat : semi-aquatic, the echidnas are all terrestrial, and their respective distributions and habitats are as follows: Platypus - Confined to Eastern Australia and Tasmania ; freshwaters streams, rivers, and some lakes.

Physical characteristics of monotremes

The key anatomical characteristic that distinguishes monotremes from other mammals is that they have a single orifice for urination, defecation, and reproduction. Like all other mammals, monotremes lactate, but lack nipples; excreting milk from mammary glands via opening of the skin.