Echidna Bachelorette

July 6, 2023 12:04 AM

During mating season, a group of [male echidnas] will start following a female, forming a line that can last several weeks.
posted by Fiasco da Gama (12 comments total)

Sorry chariots pulled by cassowaries: you are not the only one posting Australian wildlife while the mods are asleep
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 12:05 AM on July 6, 2023 [13 favorites]

That article is a bonanza of great user names, starting with the expert they interviewed, Georgia Badgery.
posted by PlusDistance at 3:19 AM on July 6, 2023 [9 favorites]

Georgia Badgery

omnivoritive determinism?
posted by lalochezia at 4:23 AM on July 6, 2023 [2 favorites]

Do the Conga!
posted by bitslayer at 4:52 AM on July 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

So it's like a nightclub, then?
posted by ZenMasterThis at 5:19 AM on July 6, 2023

Except with extremely weird chromosomes. Male echidnas have 5 different X chromosomes and 4 different Ys. Females have 2 copies of each X for 10 total.

I think the weirdest part though is what they do during meiosis: in human males, the X and Y “pair” with each other. But in echidnas, the 5X’s and 4Y’s form a long chain. (Lots of papers about this, here’s one)

Of course the chain of males in this article has nothing whatsoever to do with the chromosomal chain but it did remind me of the monotreme’s chromosomal strangeness.
posted by nat at 5:36 AM on July 6, 2023 [12 favorites]

I like the variety of echidna holding techniques illustrated in the article and others linked to it.

If you dig far enough, you can even see a platypus penis, which looks a bit like a piece of a WarHammer Chaos model….
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:44 AM on July 6, 2023

Knuckles & Knuckles & Knuckles & Knuckles & Knuckles &…
posted by Servo5678 at 5:59 AM on July 6, 2023 [3 favorites]

Ah, that’s what Aretha was singing about.
posted by Jon_Evil at 6:31 AM on July 6, 2023 [1 favorite]

I can't wait to see how the comic and games introduce this into Sonic lore.
posted by dogbusonline at 1:20 PM on July 6, 2023 [2 favorites]

I was going to come in with a

"What Knuckles-heads!"

But several of you beat me to much funnier Sonic jokes. I love MeFi.
posted by Night_owl at 6:38 AM on July 7, 2023

My spines bring all the boys to the line
And they're like, they're better than yours
Damn right, they're better than yours
You can't have them, so I'm feeling just fine
posted by The Adventure Begins at 11:20 PM on July 10, 2023