High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus), also known as the spiny anteater because of its diet of ants and termites, is one of four living species of echidna and the only member of the genus Tachyglossus. The short-beaked echidna is covered in fur and spines, and has a distinctive snout and a specialized tongue, which it uses to catch its prey at a great speed. Like the other extant monotremes, the short-beaked echidna lays eggs; the monotremes are the only group of mammals to do so.