Echidnas: Tachyglossidae - Physical Characteristics, Diet, Behavior And Reproduction, Echidnas And People, Short-beaked Echidna (tachyglossus Aculeatus): Species Account - GEOGRAPHIC RANGE, HABITAT, CONSERVATION STATUS

The short-beaked echidna lives throughout Australia, Tasmania, and the lowlands of New Guinea. The long-beaked echidna lives only in the New Guinea highlands.

HABITAT

The short-beaked echidna lives wherever its main food sources, ants and termites, are abundant enough to keep it fed, allowing the species to occupy nearly all habitat types in Australia and New Guinea, from tropical rainforest and grassland to desert. The long-beaked echidna is confined to alpine meadows up to 12,000 feet (3,660 meters) above sea level, and to humid mountain forests in the New Guinea highlands.

CONSERVATION STATUS

The short-beaked echidna is still plentiful in Australia, and has no special conservation status listing at present. The long-beaked echidna of New Guinea, on the other hand, is faring poorly. Its forest habitat is being cleared for logging, mining, and agriculture, and people hunt the echidna for food with packs of trained dogs. Because of these threats, the long-beaked echidna is listed as Endangered.