Advances in the captive breeding and reproductive biology of the short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus)

Abstract

Captive breeding of the short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) has proven a difficult challenge; as recently as 2009, there were fewer than 10 echidnas born in captivity. We present observations of captive reproductive behaviour following video surveillance and measurements of body temperature collected from six captive female echidnas over a six-year period. In the first series of observations (2009-10) we examined the efficacy of artificial burrow boxes as possible aids for reproductive success. Females with access to burrow boxes had significantly higher levels of reproductive activity (P = 0.001), there was coincidental improvement in the production of eggs or pouch young (two eggs, one unhatched and one offspring). During 2009-10, a range of reproductive behaviours (courtship, copulation and postcopulation) were documented and analysed, as were new observations of oestrous cycle activity. Female body temperature was characteristically stable during egg incubation during this study and has the potential to be used as a tool for the assessment of reproductive status. Following initial observations, burrow boxes and infrared lamps were implemented as standard husbandry in our echidna breeding facility and the effects on reproductive success were monitored, albeit less intensively, for a further four years . Although no direct causal effect could be ascribed, the use of burrow boxes and heat lamps coincided with a total of 13 young being born to four females in the last four years . These female echidnas were found to be receptive at intervals throughout the breeding season, both before and after presumed incubation phases, suggesting that captive animals exhibit polyoestry. In 2012 and 2014, the same female showed evidence of producing two young from one breeding event.

Biological parameters used in setting captive‐breeding quotas for Indonesia's breeding facilities

“…Only in 2014 was the second documented F2 offspring born in captivity (Wallage et al. ). It is very unlikely that the CBPP‐allocated quota (50 specimens) can be fulfilled from only F2 captive‐bred specimens.…”

WOMEN IN REPRODUCTIVE SCIENCE: Reproduction down under

“…With the help and support of Queensland's Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary (Gold Coast) and Steve Johnston at University of Queensland and our research fellow Jane Fenelon, we have now embarked on the world's first morphological and molecular study of the complete development of the echidna embryo (from egg-laying, when the embryo is at the early somite stage to the newly hatched egg 10 days later) and the early stage pouch young, as well as a detailed study of the adult reproductive physiology and endocrinology. Currumbin have created a small breeding colony (Wallage et al 2015) and have partnered with us to study these remarkable animals, a unique opportunity to learn about the reproduction and development of these egg-laying mammals, the Monotremata. This monotreme (one of the two types of egg-laying mammals) is abundant in Australia, but until very recently the echidna had rarely been bred in captivity.…”

Reproductive behaviour before and after oestrus and oviposition in the captive short-beaked echidna (

“…The short-beaked echidna has been housed in zoological institutions for over 100 years (Wallage et al 2015). Despite their least concern status on the IUCN Redlist (Aplin et al 2016), echidnas have been notoriously difficult to breed in captivity (Wallage et al 2015).…”