The Australian Fine China plate features an echidna lying on its back curled up asleep.
Illistrated by Priscilla Parker
The echidna plate is part of the Australian Wildlife Collection - Angry Australians.
The plate is 20.5 cm in diameter
Designed and decorated in Australia
Dishwasher and microwave safe porcelain
Boxed
Echidnas are small mammals that are covered with coarse hair and spines. Superficially they resemble the anteaters of South America and other spiny mammals like hedgehogs and porcupines; this is due to convergent evolution. They have snouts which have the functions of both mouth and nose. Their snouts are elongated and slender. They have very short, strong limbs with large claws and are powerful diggers. Echidnas have a tiny mouth and a toothless jaw. They feed by tearing open soft logs, anthills and the like, and use their long, sticky tongue, which protrudes from their snout, to collect their prey. The Short-beaked Echidna's diet consists largely of ants and termites, while the Zaglossus species typically eat worms and insect larvae.[
