Echidna – Tachyglossus aculeatus
By: Michael Fox
“My wife says this Echidna was near our house in Mt Gravatt this morning. I am very jealous!! Apparently it bumbled around for ages.” Pieter emailed me today with these amazing photos.
I am jealous as well. I am yet to see an Echidna in the Reserve even though I have walked every track and spent hundreds of hours in bushcare and taking photos.
Early mornings and late afternoon is the time to look for Echidnas as they tend to avoid the hotter times of day.
Termite exterminator at work
If you spot an Echidna you can report the sighting to Wildlife Queensland’s Echidna Watch program which is gathering information on the distribution and abundance of Echidnas.
These unique animals are not just another interesting native animal they are are also valuable urban pest controllers protecting our homes by eating termites as well as ants and, apparently, dirt.
Restoration work at our Bushcare sites is improving habitat. However all mountain neighbours can help by not dumping garden waste/lawn clippings in the bushland and not removing fallen timber for firewood.
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Click on image to enlarge for reading
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The 2011 report Mimosa Creek Precinct – Flora, Fauna and Fauna Corridor Assessment, by Biodiversity Assessment & Management Pty Ltd, identified a lack of fallen timber as a key weakness in the mountain habitat. Fallen logs create ideal food sources for Echidnas as they attract termites and ants. These logs also provide protection as Echidnas avoid extremes in temperature by sheltering in hollow logs, rock crevices and vegetation.
Local Council Ranger, Craig Hardie, has recently distributed letters to properties adjoining the Reserve to highlight the importance of not removing vegetation including fallen logs.
We are lucky to have such a unique habitat right in at our backdoor. I often have people ask amazed: “Koalas are just roaming free?” Therefore, as a community, we have a responsibility to protect this valuable asset by:
- not dumping rubbish or garden waste; and
- keeping dog’s on leash within the Reserve.
Like Koalas, the main threats to Echidnas are cars and dogs. If you are walking in the Reserve please keep your dog on a leash.
Mount Gravatt Environment Group 
June 24, 2013 at 11:38 pm
wow Mike thats quite exciting, I assumed there were Echidna’s on the mountain mainly as the cafe is called Echidna Magic – but we too have never seen one up there in all the times we have been. A rare sighting indeed! What next, Wombats?!!
June 24, 2013 at 11:54 pm
Paddemelons next Hazel. I have heard stories that there are Paddemelons in Toohey Forest and we have had one unconfirmed sighting of what I think must have been a Paddemelon in O’Grady Street.
June 25, 2013 at 10:39 am
Note that the echidna was seen at 11:30am so not early in the morning – maybe you need to do your rounds later in the day Michael :-). My son watched it for some time as well and it found a ants nest in the base of a tree and excavated it out – ended up covered in angry ants!
July 2, 2013 at 10:17 am
Good point Pieter. We still don’t know much about our local Echidnas. We know the signs to look for with Koalas and Gliders but we are weak on what signs to look for with Echidnas.
June 26, 2013 at 3:08 am
Yes, this is wonderful that we have a Echidna sighting on the mountain. Restoration work is restoring habitat. I have never seen so many Kookaburras this last year at the back of my house. How wonderful to be creating a better habitat for all our native animals. Sad there are not more fallen logs for our animals to have as homes – leave the logs in the bush please
July 29, 2013 at 2:41 am
We’ve had Echidnas show up in houses backing onto the forest on the Moorooka side of Toohey Forest, and we’ve spotted one digging around in the leaf litter in the gardens outside of McDonalds at Nathan.
August 1, 2013 at 3:46 am
Thanks Jon. This is great news.
Michael
May 13, 2015 at 11:58 am
Hi!, may i ask, those photos self-made or purchased at some photo
stocks? I’m sorry 4 my poor english, neverthless i believe that you’ll
you can still know what is important in my question.
May 13, 2015 at 12:24 pm
All photographs are taken within Mt Gravatt Conservation Reserve by our members.
Creative Commons copyright applies … you are free to use any photographs with acknowledgement of Mt Gravatt Environment Group.
Michael Fox