- · Grid units represent actual meters (m); human and animals are drawn to the exact same scale with original silhouette aspect ratios preserved.
- · When a size range is recorded (e.g. 1–1.6m), the lower bound is used for scale comparison.
- · Yellow dashed line shows recorded total body length (including tail), which may differ from silhouette width due to posture.
- · Eastern Long-beaked Echidna silhouette: PhyloPic — author not recorded · CC0 1.0 (Zaglossus bruijni)
- · Human silhouette: PhyloPic — NASA · Public Domain Mark 1.0
Eastern Long-beaked Echidna
Zaglossus bartoni (Eastern Long-beaked Echidna · ヒガシミユビハリモグラ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its average weight of 6.5 kg is about 2/3 of a 10 kg bag of rice, and its average length of 55.6 cm is just under two 30 cm rulers (Comparison).
- 💡 Because it is rare and hard to find, Indigenous peoples in New Guinea prize it as a game animal, considering its meat a delicacy and sometimes keeping its body as a 'trophy.'
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
The Eastern Long-beaked Echidna lives in the mountains of New Guinea and is the largest living monotreme. It searches for underground earthworms with its long, tube-shaped snout.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
White spines cover its back among long, dense black to dark brown fur, and its tubular snout averages 12.3 cm in length. It lacks teeth but has a hard plate inside the mouth, and three rows of spine-like projections at the back of its tongue help grip earthworms.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
Active at night, it eats mainly earthworms and occasionally grubs. It digs the ground with its snout and forefeet or tears open logs to find food, and lives alone in underground burrows or dense vegetation.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List VU (2016) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/136552/21964496
- • IUCN Red List category VU — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • mammaldiversity.org — 1000004
- • iucnredlist.org — 21964496
- • wikidata.org — Q809557
- • animaldiversity.org — Zaglossus bartoni
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — author not recorded · CC0 1.0 (Congeneric silhouette — Zaglossus bruijni)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.