LESSON FOUR:

HOW STRUCTURE OF ECHIDNA’S BODY RELATES TO ITS MANY FUNCTIONS!

By now you would have developed a good idea about the way echidnas move and how they live. It is also possible that most of you are probably still puzzled about some of their special features and how they have evolved and adapted to so many different climates. A dissection is a good way to analyse the structure of body parts of echidnas, however, a dissection is only performed at the Pelican Lagoon Research Centre if a ‘roadkill’ comes in. This means that a vehicle has hit an echidna on the road and this is quite sad since we don’t know how many echidnas there are on the island as they are such secretive creatures it is difficult to estimate their populations. We do, however, want to keep as many as we can as we know that through the early years of research, many echidnas were killed as they tried to keep them in captivity.

The photos you will see below will try to point out the many special features of the echidna and it is up to you to try and relate the structure of the body part to its function. For example, study the shape of the structure and think of how the echidna could best use it for a specific job or function. This may give you an idea as to how the echidnas have developed these structures over time to assist them in their adaptation in different environments in Australia.

COPY AND PASTE THE FOLLOWING TABLE INTO A WORD DOCUMENT AND COMPLETE BY THE END OF THE LESSON!