Huldra Forsvant (Theodor Kittelsen)

Huldra Forsvant (Theodor Kittelsen)
Huldra Forsvant (Theodor Kittelsen)

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Echidnas

I like seeing animals at the zoo, but there's nothing like coming across an animal in the wild. It is so unexpected and exciting. When I lived in the Blue mountains I used to go wandering around in the bush near my house. One day I heard a rustling sound, and stopped in my tracks, thinking it might be a snake or something. I looked around carefully, trying to find where the sound was coming from, but I couldn't see anything.

After several minutes, I gave up, and was about to go on walking, when out of the bushes walked an echidna! I was so thrilled, having never seen one before in the wild. He was only small, about the size of a football. As soon as I made a move though, he came to an instant stop, curled up in a ball, and flared his spikes. It made me smile, and I stayed still and waited for ages for him to 'come back out'-- but when he eventually did, he would zip back into hiding as soon as he saw me. He was such a funny little guy, and I was so happy to have seen him.

2 comments:

Helen Read said...

Ben, I think this sounds the same as the American porcupine (not sure if I spelled that correctly). Your picture looks like one! Hey, thanks for visiting my blog and leaving your kind comments too!

Ben McLaughlin said...

Hi Helen, thanks for writing:) I think porcupines are a bit different--they are rodents, where as echidnas are monotremes (lay eggs). It is weird though that animals not really related have such similar looks and traits.