We have seen several echidnas, but usually they are very timid and all you see is a ball of spines in a hollow log. But not round here – in southern Tasmania they seem especially bold and go about their business entirely unconcerned by human observers. So, eventually, here is a good shot of one:

 

 

These are monotremes – egg layers – like the platypus and represent a very early divergence from the rest of the mammals. The egg is laid directly into a pouch where the young suck milk from pores in two milk patches (there are no nipples) until they start to produce spines at about 50 days at which point the mother very sensibly dumps the baby in a burrow.

This is the short beaked echidna Tachyglossus aculeatus; there is a different genus with two species in New Guinea but that’s it for the world nowadays. They feed exclusively on ants and termites using a long sticky tongue.  Surprisingly these animals seem to have evolved from an aquatic platypus-like ancestor – they even have electroreceptors in their snouts just like the platypus.