We had an Echidna come and visit us today
 

We had and Echidna come and visit our garden today. They are mostly nocturnal so we don't see them often, this is only the second time in almost 20 years that we have seen one at our house. They are so cute :). They feed on ants and termites and are one of two animals that are part of the monotreme family, that is that they lay eggs but also produce milk for their young.
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What a beautiful picture it looks almost like a porcupine . Thank you for posting a picture of this cute animal have never seen this animal before :)

Oh, my goodness. What a strange and adorable little creature. I know that Australia is home to many creatures that are mostly unknown to the rest of the world. I have seen pictures of many of the most beautiful birds ever that live in your country. Thanks for adding to our knowledge of things we will never get to see.

really cute!

Nice!! I only had a Possum - blech. Hate Possums.

When I was in Australia, one crossed the country road in front of us. My cousin that was driving pulled over and we watched it. It curled up into a ball to protect itself. Then we left. It was neat to see one in the wild.

I love this type of wildlife surprises! One of these days I'd love to visit your country and see all the beautiful birds and animals.

Thank you so much for taking the time to show us this picture! May have seen one in a zoo but not even sure about that! Our dog passed away and I found his dog dish one day and decided to put some food scraps in it and I set it on my front sidewalk where I could see it from my front door. The next day, the food was gone. Kept doing it and the food kept disappearing. So, I started watching out my front door just a little after dark, with the front porch light on. In the next few weeks I saw the following: many different possums - some little some big, etc.; a family of racoons all fighting over the food; a grey fox a red fox and two different cats.

Wow, thanks. I only knew of the Platypus (spelling?) that layed eggs and produced milk.

Well, she fits right in to the design of your picture. What a picture! Beautiful!

What a great picture ... thanks for sharing it with us. I love my wildlife visitors but they aren't nearly so exotic!

Love this photo. Thanks for sharing:)

Beautiful photo. Thank you for sharing it with us. You live in such a beautiful country, you are very lucky.

That is so cute!

Beautiful photo. Thank you for sharing.

You learn something new every day! :thumbup:
What an interesting creature; she must have thought she was disguised by the plant in front of her -- just like her but another color. Maybe she thought it was a mate!

Thank you for sharing this today.:)

Jan in VA

Thanks for sharing the photo of your visitor. Sweet little thing.

Thank you for sharing with us. He certainly is a handsome animal.

Thank you for sharing a picture of your visitor with us. Beautiful animal.

Don't hate opossums, they are awesome for the environment despite how ugly they look, they are for the most part harmless, more bark than bite, even if they try, they are so slow. I think they are just interesting creatures that are very unappreciated. The babies are really cute. I think they get such a bad rap!!!!

Possum or opossums? They are actually different animals, though they are both Marsuipals. They are so dang ugly they are cute. Do you know 'possums don't get rabies?! Scientists haven't figured that out yet but they think it's because of their high fat content. Loved the 'possums in the movie Bambi, lol.

The little Echinae in the picture looks like it is play "possum". "You can't find me"

Thank you so much for the beautiful picture. I have never seen one of these little critters.

Yes, I want to second this. Thanks for sharing!

Is that fur or are those quills on this little guy?

Such amazingly different animals in Aussie land! Thanks for introducing this one. :-)

What a fun story! I would love to have been on the porch watching with you.

Woody, thank you for sharing the picture. It's really cute, though I would be keeping my distance! I hope you don't have to wait another 20 years to see another one!

She really does ... I thought the same thing. Cute little animal. Thanks for letting us see it.

Oh so cute. I'd not heard of that one!! great photo.

darling-when I lived in Victoria I saw one by the side of the road-alive. they are darling. I also loved the birds and miss them. I had never seen a bird fly upside down until I saw a white cockatoo do it. Great fun.
The possums were darling and very friendly. They would bring their babies and wait for me to put out fruit. If I forgot or got busy they let me know my making a chirping noise. The cockatoos would come right up to the glass doors and knock with their beaks. Made for an interesting time when the moggies (Aussie for cats) were on the other side of the glass!!
Thanks for posting-great memories

Adorable! If you did landscape quilting, this would make a great memento.

How unusual. Thanks for sharing something that I've never even heard of. I sure hope one of my DGKs asks me something about echidnas! They think I know everything (haha) and this would blow their minds!

I understand that they are also known as the Spiny Anteater. Very nice picture and beautiful landscape. Thanks for sharing.

What a lovely little visitor Woody. I haven't had one at home, but during the drought one used to visit the farm where I work to drink from a water dish during the day. Obviously very thirsty to come out into the open so frequently in daylight. Haven't seen it since the drought broke though.

thank you for the pic. your country has so many creatures.we have never seen. he looks simular the the porcupine. I will have to look him up after i get off here. the pic that get posted of the kookabra was cool. I don't remember who did it but now the song we sung way back in school makes more sense now. we never knew what we were singing about. maybe the teacher could of explained it better of what it was? LOL

Thaank you so much for taking the time to post these pics of these unusual animals...we would probably never get this oppurtunity otherwise
she or he is a cutie, like a big hedge hog.

What a cute little creature. It almost looks like a porcupine. Thanks for sharing this with us.

We used to feed the stranded, orphann opposums,
personally, i love them and think they are so cute.

Very cute! It looks like it's posing for you.

How interesting! Thanks so much for sharing this beautiful pic. I have never heard of one before. I had no idea what I was going to see when I opened your thread. They do look like a porcupine. God certainly created some interesting and really cool creatures for us to enjoy. Thanks again for sharing.

What a treat to see your picture of that animal in your yard! Beautiful yard, by the way. At my age, I would never get to Australia but know of the beautiful and gentle creatures that live there like the Koala, etc. Seeing yours is like being there instead of just seeing a photo in a book or film. Thanks for sharing...