Short-beaked echidna: Habitat to Habit

Question 1 · multiple choice

A rescue team is planning a habitat release for a healthy Short-beaked echidna. Which setting fits best?

forests, grasslands, deserts, and rocky country in Australia and New Guinea grassland, scrub, gardens, and warm field edges farmland, grassland, marsh edges, and open woodland desert, scrub, grassland, and rocky country

Question 2 · multiple choice

To avoid giving unsuitable food, which menu should a Short-beaked echidna receive in a specialist wildlife centre?

molluscs, crustaceans, sponges, algae, and hard-shelled prey ants, termites, and other small invertebrates fungus cultivated on carefully prepared leaf fragments algae, tiny crustaceans, molluscs, and aquatic larvae

Question 3 · multiple choice

Which observation plan is best aligned with a Short-beaked echidna's usual active period?

active mainly at night active by day and often travels in cooler periods activity shifts with temperature and may be day or night active by day close to its anemone

Question 4 · multiple choice

Which movement clue would help identify a Short-beaked echidna without using colour or sound?

walks on eight legs and probes with sensory combs beneath the body runs with two-toed feet and long elastic strides swims in short bursts and rarely travels far from shelter walks with outward-facing feet and digs rapidly

Question 5 · multiple choice

A young engineer studies a Short-beaked echidna for a nature-inspired design. Which feature should be copied?

spines protect the back while a long sticky tongue gathers prey a strong conical bill knots and weaves strips of grass translucent belly skin makes some internal organs visible tube feet grip surfaces and pull open a small gap in shellfish

Question 6 · multiple choice

Which parent-and-young scenario belongs to a Short-beaked echidna?

eggs are laid on a simple scrape without a built nest lays one egg that hatches in a temporary pouch females dig burrows in sand or ash for their eggs lays grape-like egg clusters on sheltered objects

Question 7 · multiple choice

Which observation accurately describes communication or cooperation in a Short-beaked echidna?

adults are stationary but live within busy reef communities mostly solitary outside breeding gatherings mostly solitary except during mating trains and care of the young males display with raised fins and jumps around defended burrows

Question 8 · multiple choice

Which environmental change is most directly linked to the normal activities of a Short-beaked echidna?

controls hard-shelled invertebrates on reefs prunes vegetation, moves soil, and redistributes nutrients stirs wetland sediment and links microscopic food to larger predators turns soil and regulates ant and termite colonies

Question 9 · multiple choice

How is a Short-beaked echidna most likely to respond when escape becomes difficult?

curls, wedges into crevices, or digs down leaving only spines exposed camouflages, spreads wings in a threat display, and strikes uses camouflage, hissing, and a startling defensive sway rattles as a warning before using venomous fangs

Question 10 · true false

True or False: A short-beaked echidna the baby echidna is called a puggle.

True False