What makes an animal a monotreme?
Monotremes are different from other mammals because they lay eggs and have no teats. Monotremes are different from other mammals because they lay eggs and have no teats. The milk is provided for their young by being secreted by many pores on the female’s belly.
Which of the following is the definition of monotreme?
: any of an order (Monotremata) of egg-laying mammals comprising the platypuses and echidnas.
Is platypus a monotreme?
The monotremes are a group of highly specialised egg-laying predatory mammals, containing the platypus and echidnas. There are only five living species of monotreme, contained within two families: Family Ornithorhynchidae: the platypus, a single species in a single genus, Ornithorhynchus anatinus.
Is a hedgehog a monotreme?
A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. Like many of the first mammals, they have adapted to a nocturnal way of life. Their spiny protection resembles that of porcupines, which are rodents, and echidnas, a type of monotreme.
Is a bird a monotreme?
The word “monotreme” literally means “one opening,” which is a characteristic feature: similar to birds and reptiles, they have the same opening for fecal matter, urine, and reproduction, called a cloaca. Also like birds and reptiles, monotremes lay eggs, although their eggs are uniquely rubbery and rather small.
Is a chicken a monotreme?
Monotremes reproduce in a much different way than most other mammals do. The biggest difference is that they lay eggs rather than giving birth to live young. The eggs are leathery like many reptile eggs, rather than brittle, like the eggs of chickens and other birds are.
What’s the definition of echidna?
: a spiny-coated toothless burrowing nocturnal monotreme mammal (Tachyglossus aculeatus) of Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea that has a long extensible tongue and long heavy claws and that feeds chiefly on ants also : a related mammal (Zaglossus bruijni) of New Guinea having a longer snout and shorter spines.
Is a porcupine a monotreme?
Are porcupines hedgehogs and echidnas related? Echidnas belong to an ancient family of mammals, the monotremes. They lay eggs and are “non-placental” mammals. Porcupines belong in the rodent family and hedgehogs belong to the insectivore family.