Western Long-beaked Echidna

Also known as Bruijn's Long-beaked Echidna, Western Echidna

Western long-beaked echidnas are solitary, egg-laying monotremes equipped with a downward-curving beak and a specialized tongue armed with tiny spines to hook soil invertebrates. Primarily active at night or during twilight, they forage across the mossy floor of montane cloud forests, using powerful digging claws to unearth food from deep soil and rotting logs. Decades of habitat loss and hunting pressure with trained tracking dogs have driven their populations into steep decline across the Vogelkop Peninsula.