echidna

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a spiny, toothless, egg-laying mammal of Australia and New Guinea that feeds mainly on ants and termites

   The echidna curled into a spiny ball when the researcher approached.

From New Latin Echidna, from Greek ekhidna ("viper"). European naturalists transferred the classical snake name to the spiny mammal. Although echidnas and platypuses look very different, both are monotremes: mammals that lay eggs.

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