Maternal care and juvenile development of captive-bred short-beaked echidnas (Tachyglossus aculeatus acanthion) at Perth Zoo, Western Australia
Arthur Ferguson
A * and Belinda Laming A
A Perth Zoo, Zoological Parks Authority, 20 Labouchere Road, South Perth, WA 6151, Australia.
Australian Journal of Zoology 70(2) 43-55 https://doi.org/10.1071/ZO22013
Submitted: 24 March 2022 Accepted: 10 October 2022 Published: 1 December 2022
© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)
Abstract
Successful breeding of short-beaked echidnas (Tachyglossus aculeatus acanthion) occurred at Perth Zoo on eight occasions between 2007 and 2012. Here we report the methods used for monitoring and managing breeding females and their young from hatching through to weaning. Growth and development of the young during burrow-life was quantified through regular weighing and maternal care was monitored using video camera surveillance. All young hatched between early August and mid-September and were deposited in nursery burrows in October–November at 58–63 days of age at an average mass of 295 ± 64.3 g. Mothers suckled their young, on average, every 3.3 ± 1.1 days. Young first emerged from their nursery burrow from mid-January into February at an average 169 ± 21 days of age and weighing 1674 ± 511 g, and reached 3 kg in mass at 348 ± 97 days of age. Sexual maturity of two female offspring was attained at 4 years of age. Our observations of maternal care and development of the captive-bred young are consistent with published observations made on wild echidnas. We suggest that important factors for the successful rearing of captive-bred echidnas are enclosure set-up, daily monitoring, combined with a suitably designed and managed nursery burrow that provides a suitable substrate and microenvironment.
Keywords: captive management, echidna, growth, maternel behaviour, monotreme, reproductive biology, surveillance, Tachyglossus aculeatus.
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