Frequency of breeding and recruitment in the Short-beaked echidna, Tachyglossus aculeatus

Abstract

We documented the breeding frequency of 25 wild female short-beaked echidnas, Tachyglossus aculeatus multiaculeatus, fate of young, and recruitment of subadults into a population over a 7-year period. Echidnas had 1 annual breeding period with courtship lasting 7-37 days. Females monitored were observed to mate only once per breeding season with 1 male. All females that mated produced a single fertile egg 23 days ± 1 SE after mating. Frequency of reproduction differed among individuals and years. Number of young hatched each season varied between 1 and 9. A total of 22 hatchlings was produced by 17 different females between 1990 and 1996. Seven young died before weaning, 8 were known to survive to weaning, and the fates of the remaining 7 were unknown. Number of new subadults found in the study site was comparable with the number of young known to have been produced each year.