I had to take Veronica to her midwives appointment yesterday and as I was about to walk up the front steps to the car I saw an echidna perched on top of the stone work.
My first thought was, “How the hell did you get up there?” Echidnas can climb and I have seen them happily eating ants on 3 foot high dead tree stumps. After I had taken a few photos, I noticed that this young echidna was shivering and she also wasn’t making any attempt to climb down off the stonework.
I gently placed a towel over her so that she wouldn’t panic and fall off the wall. I very, very carefully (because echidnas are very prickly) lifted her off the stonework and placed her on the ground. She immediately tried to bury herself . Echidnas have really strong claws and they will partially bury themselves so that only their spines are exposed and would be predators soon get sick of being prickled and leave them alone.
After about ten minutes she trundled off.
Now that she/he had safely wandered back into the bush, I had a good look around the stone steps to see if I could work out why she had been up there. It soon became obvious that she had fallen into the frog pond and once she had climbed out she was stuck..
I think that she/he had come down looking for either a drink or a feed of ants and had fallen in.
She/he had then managed to clamber out up onto the stonework..
This is how I found her. I really like Echidnas they are one of my favourite native animals..
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Streuth Kim!
Is that a kangaroo! or a Koala! ?
Xbox4NappyRashs last blog post..Pick a card, any card
there really cute..
we saw one on our trip..
there amazing..
we also saw an eagle and a wombat..
Tazs last blog post..Happy Birthday Baby Girl.. 52 Weeks Old..
glad the little one is ok now..
Tazs last blog post..Happy Birthday Baby Girl.. 52 Weeks Old..
They show up in the damndest places! Mum found one once wandering up the middle of the road in front of the hospital.
Some young blokes pulled up in a ute and helped her catch it and get it in a box, then she went and picked up all the grandkids to take with her up to the local wildlife corridor to release it.
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This is the second blog today I’ve seen with an echidna sighting.
I think it would be incredibly amazing to live in a place where you see wild Echidnas. Do you guys realize this or is it taken for granted?
I sometimes wonder if I’d take it for granted. But maybe not because I get excited every time I see a lizard in our yard.
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I didn’t realize you were Veronica’s mom!!
That’s so cool.
I love the whole family blogging together thing.
Dinas last blog post..Am I Tall Enough?
I love Echidnas! I have only seen one so far this spring! I had one dig under my fence once where I used to live and made a perfect hole for the dog to escape under!
Poor little soggy sad stuck echidna.
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Nice rescue. My hubby, L, rescued a tiny, tiny baby possum recently. It was clinging to the outside of a brush fence on the corner of Magill and Portrush roads, (not sure how well you know Adelaide), obviously terrified at the traffic whooshing past. He sacrificed his beanie to make a pouch, nudged the baby into it, where it curled up and relaxed into sleep while he walked up to the local vet and handed it over.
So lovely shots:)) My Sofia loves them so much:))
kompostelas last blog post..From Generation to Generation. Weekly Winners, October 12-18
How cute!! I mean, from a distance.
Kim, your note meant a lot to me. *sniff*
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Awwww! So, here in the States, we call those little guys Hedge hogs. And we keep them in cages as pets.
Suddenly puts a new perspective to caging the little fellers.
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I always heard them called Spiny Ant Eaters. I always thought they were related to porcupines but as I got older and learned they were marsupials, I guess I realized they were not. but there cute little buggers – except they are really ugly when they are babies – like most marsupials, naked and helpless.
Are they painful prickly or just uncomfortable prickly?
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Ree: they are uncomfortably prickly. Sharpened knitting needles type prickly..
Lou: Some people call them Spiny Ant Eaters. They aren’t a marsupial they are a monotreme, meaning they lay eggs and then suckle their young..Platypus are monotremes as well..
Oh look! You just answered my question: spiny ant eater!!! THAT’s what I was wondering. You’re a fount of knowledge!
So sweet. Glad you helped him/her get along.
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I’m so glad I read the comments on this post, because I thought this was a hedgehog! But then I looked it up, and now I think I know what it is!
Thanks for sharing, we don’t get to see those in Belgium I think, except at the zoo!
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Oh, I love echidnas too, although I think Wally Wombat is my favourite. I have a close encounter with an echidna story. When Mollie was a mere babe in arms (sooooooo many years ago!!) I was driving her to sleep (while she was driving me mad!!) one night when I came upon a spiky pal, sitting in the middle of the road. Undaunted, I pulled over, got a blanket out of the boot (still not sure WHY there was a blanket in the boot, but, whatever!!), wrapped her up, and carried her to the side of the road. As you stated, she shivered and burrowed for a minute or two, then scurried off in the right direction. It was really an amazing moment, one I’ll never forget.