ECHIDNA
I was out at the reservoir above the Kilmore Golf Course this morning. I was particularly looking for some herons which I have seen there before. No herons but there was a surprise visitor.
What I found was this large echidna, rooting through the mud along the edge of the dam. When first spotted, he or she was in the water with its beak submerged. Perhaps it was drinking? I have never seen this before.
It made its way along the edge of the reservoir, moving between the water and the firmer mud, before moving back amongst the trees. I assume it was hunting for a meal. Although we think these are slow moving animals, they do really move along quite quickly.
Echidnas have a habit, when disturbed, of stopping and digging straight down into the ground. Within a few seconds they can dig themselves completely under the surface. They have quite short but very strong legs with elongated claws which enable very fast burrowing. Any predator trying to catch an echidna, will be deterred by the sharp spines standing erect as the animal digs quickly into the earth.
Echidnas feed mainly on ants and termites. They use their strong claws to open ant's nests and then collect the ants with a long sticky tongue which protrudes a long from the lawless snout.
Echidnas are Monotremes, egg laying mammals. There are only two monotremes, the echidna and the platypus, both live in Australia. The female echidna lays a single egg, rather leathery like a snake or lizard egg.
The young, called a puggle, hatches after only about ten days, a tiny fetus, it crawls into the mothers pouch. Inside the pouch the puggle continues to grow, feeding on milk which is produced from milk patches, pores in the mother's skin.
After about fifty days, the mother digs a burrow and leaves her young there, but returning to feed for about a year
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