Part of the challenge is that the echidnas forest home is relentlessly serene. Eucalyptus trunks glow pearly-white in the morning sun. A breeze lifts sparkling threads of spider’s silk woven through the leaf-litter.
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Image by Lillian Todd-Jones. The echidna’s forest home is relentlessly serene.
Birds chirp in a polite, quiet kind of way. But the peace is shattered the moment we step off the path. Inches of dried eucalyptus leaves crunch so loudly underfoot that sneaking up on an echidna is an art in itself.
They don’t seem too bothered by the sight of people, but the sound of footsteps makes them curl up in a ball and stop what they are doing. So, Nick hops delicately from rock to fallen a ‘the floor is lava’ type manner. Me and Dr. Cooper wait at a distance. I’m watching my directors’ monitor nervously.
Christine is beaming ively at the echidna. We’re in luck: a female is waddling along with three males in tow. She seems supremely un-interested in her line of suitors and manages to give them the slip in a maze of waist-high bushes.
Nick shifts himself to get a better view. This time the amorous males, make a beeline for Nick, mistaking his scuffles for their lost female. They burst out of the undergrowth at his feet, only to realize their mistake and turn back to find their lady love.
