This is the story of the weirdos you might meet in the bush.
I decided very last minute to head up to one of my favourite walks. When I got to my spot, I noticed there was already a car there. And two men. Now, I get nervous as a woman walking alone. I watch a lot of horror and listen to a lot of true crime and so, being renowned for absolutely taking zero risks ever, I drove further down the road to a different spot.
Half an hour or so later, I thought I'd swing past just in case, and this time the men were gone. Perfect. I now had the entire place to myself.
It was fabulous, just me out there, listening to all the sounds of the bush. Turns out it was my lucky day and I got to hang out with an echidna.
Now, during my thankfully alone time, I noticed my underwear riding down under my leggings. I ignored it for as long as I could and finally a strange dance of trying to right whatever was going wrong ensued.
Then I looked down. My underwear hadn't ridden down. My leggings had! At the point I finally paid attention, my leggings were sitting well below my hips and I was wandering around with pretty much my entire underwear on display. So, yes, this is a story about the weirdos you might meet out in the bush, but today I suspect the weirdo was me!
What makes the echidna weird
And about the other weirdo, well, that was, of course, the Echidna!
Echidnas are monotremes, which are egg-laying mammals and they are only one of three species of monotremes in the world (the other two being the platypus and the long-beaked echidna). The egg is laid directly into the pouch, which isn't actually permanent. This temporary pouch is formed by contorting special muscles, creating a pouch-like fold.
And while echidnas produce milk for their baby (puggle) they don't actually have nipples like other mammals. Instead they have 'milk patches', an area that secretes milk that the new puggle suckles. But probably my favourite fact about these weird and wonderful creatures is that the newly hatched puggle is so incredibly small that it would take eight puggles to weigh the same as the five cent piece which features the echidna on the front!
To learn more about echidnas and to see why they are my favourite animal, you can read this incredibly interesting piece by Peggy Rismiller, an expert in all things echidna.
