![]() ![]() This is achieved by a layer of muscle under their skin which, when contracted, works like a drawstring, pulling their spines down over their limbs and heads and shrinking all of their extremities in toward each other under their bellies. This maneuver can be taken a step further by rolling up into a ball like a hedgehog. #POMPOM ANIMALS NEAT CRACKED#They are very easily spooked, and their initial response to the sound of a cracked twig, for example, is to immediately tuck their vulnerable heads and legs under their spiny bodies. In every respect, echidnas are delightful. The way their limbs move, held at 90 degrees from the body, is unique. #POMPOM ANIMALS NEAT HOW TO#They walk like no other creature on Earth, as if at the behest of someone who is learning how to operate a remote-controlled robot, stopping and starting and changing direction every couple of steps. Their front feet resemble spades and their hind feet point backwards. They lay eggs like a reptile, have thick spines like a porcupine and a pouch like a marsupial. They have a toothless, pointy snout like a cross between a bird and an anteater. Like their platypus relatives, echidnas can be described as an amalgam of familiar and unique features. Pearson Scott Foresman, Public Domain/Wikimedia The echidna’s reverse-oriented hind feet can reach up and over the animal’s back, allowing it to groom itself without injury. It remains one of the most incredible wildlife experiences of my life. Except for when we’re deliberately catching them for scientific monitoring, we tend to keep our distance.Īnd so, when a wild echidna-of its own will-ambled up to me and rammed its face under my leg, I didn’t know quite what to do. And mammalogists (we who study mammals) creep quietly from bush to bush, moving in tight packs to avoid creating more silhouettes than we need to, and would never conceive of unnecessarily touching a wild mammal unless we were temporarily trapping them in a survey. I’m reliably informed that myrmecologists (a tribe of entomologists who study ants) regularly sample their study animals to see what they taste like in case it helps with identification. Entomologists (insect people) tend to talk loudly, as their targets are rarely scared off by human sounds. Plenty could be said about birders, but one common habit is strolling around the countryside in neatly laundered camouflage gear and well-displayed expensive binoculars making psssshtt psssshtt psssshtt noises at bushes, which mimics a general bird alarm call and thereby causes whichever tiny brown species they want to tick off their list to zoom out from hiding in startled panic, so they only get the briefest of glimpses. Herpers (herpetologists: those who study reptiles and amphibians), for example, tend to grab every animal they see with their hands, despite their group being the most dangerous (which is no doubt why they do it). I have rarely been more excited than in that instant.ĭifferent kinds of zoologists can adhere to different stereotypes, generally recognizable by their behavior. ![]() After 20 minutes, by complete luck it had made its way right up to me. My not-so-subtle approach had made it tuck itself into a ball of spines, but after a minute it uncurled and continued its hunt, sticking its long snout into the ground in search of ants. We sat down about 5 meters (16 feet) from the animal. Before I could communicate what was happening, I jumped out of the moving car, vaulted the fence and ran through the wet grass. Passing through the furthest paddock on her property, set among a lush forest of tree ferns and huge gums, I spotted a ruddy brown ball about the size of a loaf of bread bumbling across a field. All rights reserved.Įarly into my first trip to Tasmania, we were driving across a friend’s farm. Published by The University of Chicago Press. ![]() It does not store any personal data.Excerpted and adapted with permission from Platypus Matters: The Extraordinary Story of Australian Mammals by Jack Ashby. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. ![]() Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. ![]()
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