World's first echidna that's allergic to ants
An echidna named Matilda is believed to be the first of its species in the world to be allergic to its main food source – ants.
Matilda has been surviving off a special diet of a meat paste made up of other bugs that don’t cause her skin to react, after the native animal’s usual diet left her skin red-raw, itchy, and her eyes puffed up so much she could barely see.
She came to the Victorian native animal zoo Healesville Sanctuary when she was just three months old after an excavator accidentally dug her up from a burrow.
Baby echidnas, also known as puggles, live off their mother’s milk for their first two years, so when zookeepers weaned her off milk and onto ants they noticed Matilda began to react.
“One of the major allergies she had was to her food – to ants in particular, and also to native plants. which is part of the environment where she lives,” said Healesville Sanctuary keeper Aime.
The short-beaked echidna was taken to the Melbourne Veterinary Specialist Centre for detailed allergen testing in 2013, where a treatment and vaccination plan was developed to eventually help Matilda enjoy her favorite food without reaction.
It took more than four years of specialist care, including a customised diet of alternate protein sources and vaccinations to ensure the future of the creature described by Healesville zookeepers as “sweet natured”.
A special formula was concocted from various protein sources like termites and other bugs that Matilda was able to eat without a reaction, and made into a dehydrated powder that could be later turned into a “meat slurry”.
While she gobbled up the special meal, vets also exposed her to tiny amounts of ants, and steadily increased the dose, to “retrain” her immune system,” a Healesville Sanctuary spokesperson said.
“No one was confident it would work; it had never been tried before. But, against all odds, it did.”
Matilda’s treatment plan required a vaccine to be given in small, regular doses, exposing her to enough of the allergen to cause an immune-response but not so much that it would cause an adverse reaction. This allowed her immune system to be trained to learn how to manage and respond to the identified allergens.
It seems the time-consuming process has paid off. Matilda has responded so well she no longer needs treatment and has been able to eat ants for the past six months without any skin reactions.
Zookeepers believe the desensitisation has resulted in a lifelong solution for Matilda’s allergies, with zookeepers reporting she is happily enjoying ants in her enclosure.
