Saturday 15 December 2012

Close Encounters of the Spiny Kind

My recent day trip to Bruny Island was even more amazing than I managed to show you last week. We had an extraordinary experience near the Captain Cook Memorial at Adventure Bay.


Soon after we saw the wallaby
we spotted this little fellow

At first he was quite shy

Then he became rather fearless
(a totally uncropped photo)

It was amazing

He still became a bit shy at times

But he ambled happily nearby for quite a while
And then we caught a glimpse of his extraordinary feet

Our friend of course is an echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus setosus in this case).

Saturday Snapshot, is a wonderful weekly meme from at home with books

15 comments:

The Daemon said...

Wow! Just. Wow.

Such lovely little creatures. Did you know their babies are called "puggles"!? So cute, and quite the media darlings... http://www.perthzoo.wa.gov.au/world-first-breeding-success-at-perth-zoo-13094/
rightly so, as they are totally adorable, I think!

Louise said...

I did know they were called puggles. How cute are the babies? I hadn't seen the Perth story, thanks for sharing that. You wouldn't think they'd be so hard to breed in captivity would you?

Brona said...

Lucky you. I've only ever spotted an echinda racing off into the bush!
They're almost as shy as the platypus!!

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

What an amazing capture. How cute is he!

Paulita said...

And I didn't know it was hard to spot an echidna, cause there are none in the U.S. Funny the animals we take for granted in our own backyard. Some friends from New Zealand were fascinated by our squirrels that run along the wires and scurry up trees. She said they didn't have squirrels. A world without squirrels or echidnas is hard to imagine. Here's Mine

Laurel-Rain Snow said...

I love the little wallaby...and he looks so prickly! Thanks for sharing.

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Kaye said...

He's adorable! Great capture!!

Joy said...

Cool! I'd never seen an echidna before one showed up at our local zoo in the children's section. Such an intriguing animal.

Joy's Book Blog

Unknown said...

How cool! I've never seen a live porcupine!!

Melwyk said...

Wonderful photos! I've never seen an echidna and I'm glad you told us what it was because I wasn't quite sure... thanks for sharing such an unusual encounter.

Alyce said...

I never would have guessed what that was - so neat that you got to see one up close! At first glance I thought maybe it was a porcupine.

Vicki said...

How cool!! I think it would be awesome to be that close to one!! Like Alyce, I thought it was a porcupine!
Here's Mine

Anonymous said...

I've never seen anything like this... an echidna? I admit I haven't heard of it. I thought it was a hedgehog. What an interesting and rare find. (maybe not so rare in your part of the world?)

edgar said...

After koala bear, echidna is my other favorite animal.
One of our grandchildren likes platypus.

Very nice you were able to take several photos.

Martha Eskuchen said...

How cute! I love seeing animals, birds and unusual plants. Thanks fo sharing.