Echidna from the bush

This is an Echidna that I found during one of my walks.
Yes I know that I should not have picked it up by it's legs, but it was spur of the moment. Afterwards when I thought about it I felt sorry for it. There was no physical harm done to it. It probably only had some psychological stress.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• Echidnea
• echidna
• spiney
• noojee
• animal
• native
• australia
• australian
• fauna
• walk
• mammal
• Echidna
• Spiny
• Anteater
• quill

[zsteev]

question: does its spines have venom , like the porcupine's

[AussieLevold]

I am not quite sure. Some articles say yes, and some no. It maybe just in the males. The male Platypus (a cousin of the echidna) has poisonous spines on their legs.

I only know the first time I got pricked by one (3 years ago) my fingers became sore and swollen. After this video I just had itchy hands for a day.

[spikerite777]

If you had just kept quiet and still, in less than a minute the echidna would have given you a much better view of itself and the way if feeds. It buried itself because it can hear you and see you move.

I've had three encounters with echidnas in the wild. Each time, as soon as I stopped moving and making noise, the echidna started moving again in less then a minute. I consider that interfering with it while it is trying to hide is an offense.

[44444Ryan]

I love your videos.

[IdiotFest101]

That's so cool!

You australians have the strangest creatures over there. =D