Australia's echidnas reveal a prickly scientific puzzle

An echidna in Tasmania looks very different from one in Western Australia.

But the differences run much deeper than appearance.

A new review published in Australian Zoologist by University of Tasmania zoologist Stewart Nicol, an associate professor from the School of Natural Sciences, has found echidnas across Australia differ widely in diet, breeding, behavior and physiology, challenging long-held assumptions that they are the same. ...