Echidnas are insect-eaters that mainly feed on ants, termites, worms, and insect larvae.

Main foods echidnas eat

  • Short-beaked echidnas mostly eat ants and termites, digging into nests and slurping them up with a long sticky tongue.
  • Long-beaked echidnas eat more worms and insect larvae, using similar tongue and snout adaptations to grab soft-bodied prey.
  • They sometimes eat other small invertebrates like beetle and moth larvae, especially when available in the soil.

How they eat without teeth

  • Echidnas have no teeth; instead, they use hard pads in the mouth and the tongue to grind their food into a paste before swallowing.
  • Their tongues are long, sticky, and can be over 15 cm, letting them probe deep into ant nests, termite mounds, and soil tunnels.
  • Because they dig into dirt and ant hills, their droppings often contain a lot of soil mixed with insect remains.

Mini “Quick Scoop” style wrap-up

  • Core diet: ants, termites, worms, insect larvae.
  • Method: dig with powerful claws, then lick up prey with a sticky tongue.
  • Special twist: no teeth; food is crushed between tongue and mouth pads instead.

In modern wildlife forums and zoo updates, echidnas are still described as classic insectivores rather than plant or meat scavengers, with no major “latest news” shifts in their natural diet.

TL;DR: Echidnas are specialist insectivores that dig into nests and soil to lap up ants, termites, worms, and larvae with a long sticky tongue instead of chewing with teeth.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.