# Long-beaked Echidna — Facts, Threats & Conservation

*Genus Zaglossus — three species; Attenborough's long-beaked echidna Z. attenboroughi*

> Long-beaked echidnas (genus Zaglossus) are egg-laying monotreme mammals of New Guinea highland forest; Attenborough's long-beaked echidna was not recorded for roughly sixty years until camera-trap images in 2023, and the genus is Critically Endangered.

**IUCN status:** Critically Endangered — Attenborough's echidna unrecorded for decades until 2023  ·  **WARN range:** New Guinea — Indonesian provinces and Papua New Guinea highlands

## Quick facts
| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Reproduction | Egg-laying monotreme |
| Living monotremes | Five species worldwide |
| Snout | Elongated, with electroreceptors |
| Diet | Earthworms and soil invertebrates |
| IUCN status | Critically Endangered (genus) |
| Main threats | Hunting; highland forest loss |

## Scientific classification
- **Kingdom:** Animalia
- **Phylum:** Chordata
- **Class:** Mammalia
- **Order:** Monotremata
- **Family:** Tachyglossidae
- **Genus:** Zaglossus
- **Species:** Three species — including Z. attenboroughi

## Conservation status
- **Status:** Critically Endangered
- **Population:** Unknown — no reliable estimates for any species
- **Trend:** Decreasing
- **Assessed:** Varies by species
- **CITES:** Appendix II
- Attenborough's long-beaked echidna was photographed on camera traps in 2023 after roughly sixty years without records. Rediscovery is not recovery.

## Key facts: Long-beaked Echidna
- Long-beaked echidnas are monotremes — egg-laying mammals — one of only five surviving monotreme species alongside the platypus and short-beaked echidnas.
- The genus Zaglossus includes three species confined to New Guinea highland forest, distinguished by size, snout shape and range.
- Attenborough's long-beaked echidna was not recorded between 1961 and 2023, when camera traps in the Cyclops Mountains photographed it again.
- The snout carries electroreceptors that detect the electrical signals of worms and other invertebrates in soil — a sense shared with the platypus.
- All long-beaked echidna species are listed Critically Endangered, threatened by hunting and highland forest loss.
- Over 90% of land in Papua New Guinea is held under customary tenure, so highland forest protection depends on landowning clans as much as on formal reserves.

## Egg-laying mammals
Monotremes split from other mammals roughly 180 million years ago and retain the ancestral trait of laying leathery eggs while still producing milk. A female long-beaked echidna lays a single egg into a pouch-like fold, incubates it for about ten days, and the hatchling laps milk secreted from skin patches — no nipples.

That combination defines mammals as strongly as live birth does: warm-blooded, milk-fed young, but eggs instead of uterine development. WARN's platypus guide at /wildlife-guides/platypus covers the other major monotreme lineage — semi-aquatic, electroreceptive bill, venomous spurs in males. Long-beaked echidnas are terrestrial highland specialists with a simpler snout shape but the same electroreceptive hunting toolkit.

## Attenborough's echidna and the sixty-year gap
Attenborough's long-beaked echidna — Zaglossus attenboroughi — is known from very few specimens and sightings. Recorded in 1961 in the Cyclops Mountains of Indonesian New Guinea, it then disappeared from scientific records for roughly six decades. In 2023, camera traps set during an expedition to the same mountain range captured the first photographs in that interval.

The gap is not proof the species was absent — local people in the Cyclops Mountains reported continued presence — but it shows how poorly surveyed New Guinea highlands remain and how a Critically Endangered animal can exist on the edge of scientific oblivion. The Cyclops range is under pressure from hunting and encroachment; rediscovery does not mean recovery.

## Electroreception and the long snout
Long-beaked echidnas probe soil and rotting wood for earthworms and other invertebrates. The snout carries electroreceptors — up to thousands in some Zaglossus species — that detect the faint bioelectric fields generated by muscle movement in buried prey. The animal can hunt with minimal reliance on sight or smell in dark leaf litter.

Short-beaked echidnas of Australia share electroreception but have a shorter, more curved snout adapted to ants and termites. Long-beaked species are worm specialists of wet highland forest, which makes them sensitive to soil disturbance, logging and the drying that follows forest removal.

## Customary land and highland pressure
New Guinea highland forest is held under a mix of customary and state tenure depending on province and country, but in Papua New Guinea over 90% of land remains under customary ownership. Hunting with dogs is widespread; echidnas are slow and defensively roll into a spiny ball rather than flee, which makes them vulnerable once found.

Highland forest clearance for gardens, roads and mining removes habitat directly. Because long-beaked echidnas are poorly studied, population estimates are largely absent — the Critically Endangered listing reflects small range, inferred decline and intense local pressure rather than precise counts. Protection that ignores customary landowners cannot work where they control access to the forest.

## What WARN does
WARN publishes free, sourced species education, including where rediscovery is not recovery. Attenborough's long-beaked echidna reappeared on camera traps in 2023 after roughly sixty years without records, but the genus remains Critically Endangered and highland forest across New Guinea is still being lost.

If this guide helps you understand wildlife and the pressures it faces, a gift to WARN supports habitat protection and free public education in our partner countries.

## Frequently asked questions: Long-beaked Echidna
### Do long-beaked echidnas lay eggs?
Yes. They are monotremes — egg-laying mammals — one of only five surviving monotreme species worldwide. The female lays a leathery egg and the young hatch into a pouch fold and lap milk from skin patches.

### What is Attenborough's long-beaked echidna?
Zaglossus attenboroughi, a Critically Endangered species known from the Cyclops Mountains of Indonesian New Guinea. It was not recorded between 1961 and 2023, when camera traps photographed it again.

### How are long-beaked echidnas related to the platypus?
Both are monotremes — the egg-laying mammal lineage. WARN's platypus guide at /wildlife-guides/platypus covers the aquatic branch; long-beaked echidnas are terrestrial highland species with electroreceptive snouts.

### Why are long-beaked echidnas Critically Endangered?
Small ranges in New Guinea highland forest, hunting pressure, and habitat loss from clearance and disturbance. Data are sparse, but all three Zaglossus species carry Critically Endangered listings.

### How do long-beaked echidnas find food?
They probe soil and leaf litter for worms and invertebrates, using electroreceptors in the snout to detect prey by the electrical signals of muscle movement — the same sense used by platypuses underwater.

### What do long-beaked echidnas eat?
Long-beaked Echidnas eat Earthworms and soil invertebrates. Long-beaked echidnas (genus Zaglossus) are egg-laying monotreme mammals of New Guinea highland forest; Attenborough's long-beaked echidna was not recorded for roughly sixty years until camera-trap images in 2023, and the genus is Critically Endangered.

### Where do long-beaked echidnas live?
Long-beaked Echidnas live in New Guinea — Indonesian provinces and Papua New Guinea highlands. Long-beaked echidnas (genus Zaglossus) are egg-laying monotreme mammals of New Guinea highland forest; Attenborough's long-beaked echidna was not recorded for roughly sixty years until camera-trap images in 2023, and the genus is Critically Endangered.

### How long do long-beaked echidnas live?
A precise wild lifespan for long-beaked echidnas is not firmly established in the sources cited on this guide. Long-beaked echidnas (genus Zaglossus) are egg-laying monotreme mammals of New Guinea highland forest; Attenborough's long-beaked echidna was not recorded for roughly sixty years until camera-trap images in 2023, and the genus is Critically Endangered. Where longevity figures appear in the literature they vary by region, sex and whether animals are wild or captive.

### How big is a long-beaked echidna?
A Long-beaked Echidna is about ~60 yr (Attenborough's echidna absent from records until 2023). Long-beaked echidnas (genus Zaglossus) are egg-laying monotreme mammals of New Guinea highland forest; Attenborough's long-beaked echidna was not recorded for roughly sixty years until camera-trap images in 2023, and the genus is Critically Endangered. Conservation status: Critically Endangered (genus).

## Sources
- [IUCN Red List — Zaglossus attenboroughi](https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/23131/14593752)
- [Expedition Cyclops — Attenborough's echidna rediscovery (2023)](https://www.rewild.org/expedition-cyclops)

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Full guide: https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/long-beaked-echidna