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Echidna milk provide clues to dairy milk health 5 April 2005 by Richard Conan-Davies Echidna milk seems to have all the growth factors (called bioactives) needed to sustain and help it's embryo grow according to the Dairy Cooperative Research Centre. This is quite interesting because echidna embryos spend most of their time outside of the body which is in contrast to most mammals that develop in the womb. By knowing about these bioactives it may help to identify similar genes in cows which could have health benefits for people. This could lead to developing pharamceuticals that act like these factors and may improve the quality of food nutrients. Dr Kevin Nicholas who led the research, explained that "It is possible that the genes which control production of these bioactives have parallels in the dairy cow"  He further explained that "Analysing the echidna milk and the genes which control its production, will speed up our discovery of which genes in the dairy cow are important in the lactation process, including the production of fats, proteins and bioactives." Dr Peggy Rismiller of Pelican Lagoon Research and Wildlife Centre on Kangaroo Island managed to get a tiny bit of milk from the echidna by using a hormone and massaging the area which also contained bits of DNA. The mother echidna "Big Mama" who was milked as part of the research. A newly born embryo echidna is called a puggle. Images: Rismiller-McKelvey

Related Links Original news release from the Dairy Cooperative Research Centre

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