Short-beaked Echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus)
Morialta CP, Adelaide Hills, South Australia
The Echidna is the more widespread of Australia's two monotremes, found across much of Australia. It is a surprisingly large creature to a European like me, who imagines a Eurasian Hedgehog when thinking of a spiny mammal.
Echidnas are masters of adaptation, with a long tongue for catching ants in their burrows, very strong spines for defence, and incredibly powerful forelimbs with strong claws for digging. When approached, an echidna can burrow vertically down into hard, bone-dry soil, leaving only a hemisphere of fearsome spines above ground for defence - it is an amazing sight to see.
Echidnas are elusive creatures despite their size, although in open habitats they can be common - along the Ocean Road in southern Victoria, they are a common sight in the low, heathy vegetation.
Echidnas are masters of adaptation, with a long tongue for catching ants in their burrows, very strong spines for defence, and incredibly powerful forelimbs with strong claws for digging. When approached, an echidna can burrow vertically down into hard, bone-dry soil, leaving only a hemisphere of fearsome spines above ground for defence - it is an amazing sight to see.
Echidnas are elusive creatures despite their size, although in open habitats they can be common - along the Ocean Road in southern Victoria, they are a common sight in the low, heathy vegetation.