Some Facts About Echidnas

1. The hedgehog and sandshrew are their closest marsupial relatives.
2. Besides being a natural and passive deterrent, their spikes can be detached and hurled as projectiles to ward off the aerial assaults of fruit bats.
3. Their long snouts, or beaks, are remarkable. Not only is it an effective tool in their daily consumption of ants, termites and bush grapes, this snout can also be, and is, used as both a snorkel apparatus and disguise when the Echidna is forced to flee to reedy water. They dive in, tilt themselves vertically, stick their snout above the water amongst the reeds and slowly propel themselves with their spikes until they smell that the threat has gone away.
4. Contrary to popular and scientific opinion, their stout legs are actually strong enough to enable them to jump, although it is more of an exaggerated hop, over many difficult obstacles, like gumnuts and sleeping dingos.
5. Their pre-mating ritual sees them hop around in circles whilst bristling their spikes and flicking their snout. They accompany this with the sonorous sounds of their ‘mating wail’: a curious noise that has been compared with the trumpeting of an elephant, although at a much higher, whale-like pitch. Some have theorised (White 2000; Grey 1998) that this ‘wail,’ besides operating as a signal of intent, also scares away koalas. The Echidna is a self-conscious creature and does not care for the leering eyes of these tree bears.
6. Their actual practice of mating is a deft physical performance with much spike hurling, fainting and tumbling down hills. It is an oddly beautiful and graceful performance, which inspired the Kama Sutra position of the same name. ‘The Echidna,’ as it is written in this tome, remains one of its most difficult, but rewarding, sexual acts.
7. Their offspring are called squiggies.
8. Unlike most marsupials they migrate in summer and winter. One of the great natural sights in the world is to watch this migration or, as it has become affectionately and practically known in most scientific and bird-watching communities, ‘Spiky Trundle.’ Every winter they move 12 feet to the east and every summer they move 12 feet to the west.
9. Their preferred habitat is the space between two mossy boulders. They mark this territory with daily security waddles and warning hops that leave behind marks in the dirt alerting other Echidnas and bush/boulder dwelling animals to the fact that this spot is taken.
10. Although they jealously protect their turf, they are also sharing, considerate critters and are well known for their communal honesty and notion of the 'fair go.' It is these particular traits which we, as humans, identify with. Thus explaining the common phrases, 'honest as an Echidna' and 'come on, mate, give him an Echidna.'