Watch out for echidnas

Sadly our WILVOS 5441 6200 Hotline is still receiving calls about echidnas. This always
occurs during the cooler months, breeding time for these exquisite animals.
Males may spend considerable time in pursuit of a female echidna. In these weeks there could
be a number of males following one female and this is called an ‘echidna train’.
When an echidna is rescued, there are no obvious external features to define the sex of the
animal. There are no teats, as puggles drink from a milk ‘patch’. A pouch is only formed
when the female is getting ready to produce an egg. She carries the egg for 10.5 days until
the tiny puggle hatches. This little one grows quickly, becoming too large, and maybe a little
prickly, to be carried around in Mum’s pouch.
Fifty days after hatching, the puggle is deposited in a burrow. It may be a burrow in cool
dense shade, under the roots of a tree, or one dug under a pile of branches. The burrow
temperature is a cool 15 degrees. Mum may forage up to a kilometre away, returning to feed
her youngster every 5 to 10 days.
This burrow is the reason echidnas should never be relocated. From September, should
someone relocate an echidna, it may be a female feeding a puggle in a nearby burrow.
Removing the mother means certain death by starvation for the puggle. These animals are so
vulnerable. Even as adults they only have prickly spines as a defence. No teeth, and no
poisonous spines. They have to be smart to avoid predators.
If an echidna is found in the yard, advice is to confine pets inside. The echidna will move on
once the cool of darkness arrives, unless there are termites around. They will do a wonderful
job eradicating them!
Echidnas are truly unique and fascinating Australian native animals.
Donna Brennan Wildlife Volunteers Assoc Inc (WILVOS) PO Box 4805 Sunshine Coast Mail
Centre Q 4560 PH 5441 6200 www.wilvos.org.au