We know that a mammal is an animal that delivers its children and breast-feeds them. Do all mammals follow these rules? Are there mammals that lay eggs instead of delivering young ones?
The platypus and echidna are special mammals because they lay eggs! These animals do not give birth to live babies as other mammals do. The platypus is found in burrows near streams in Australia. Its eggs are round and white with wrinkled shells. The mother platypus guards and keeps the eggs warm for 10 days, until they hatch. The babies drink the milk that oozes out of pores on her underside.
Echidnas, on the other hand, carry their eggs in a pouch that forms on their belly. After mating, a female echidna digs a burrow, curls up her body, and lays one egg directly into her pouch. The egg hatches in about 10 days. Inside the pouch, the baby echidna drinks milk from its mother’s body. When its spines start to grow, the baby leaves the pouch. The female will feed her baby until it is about 6 months old.
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