These adorable Australian spike-balls beat the heat with snot bubbles

The finding reveals how echidnas survive in temperatures that should kill them

an echidna standing in tall grass

Echidnas, spiky egg-laying mammals that live across Australia, blow snot bubbles to keep cool, a new study finds.

Nuytsia@Tas/Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Animals cover themselves in all kinds of unsavory fluids to keep cool.