September 20, 2009 12:03 by
siobhanWe had a curious donation the other day - a well-dressed gentleman came in bearing a heavy plastic tub full of ice and one sadly-deceased echidna. He had found the echidna's body on the road when driving. He hadn't wanted to leave what was an almost-perfectly intact specimen for the crows to eat, thinking that the Museum might have a use for it.
Photo: Siobhan Motherway Source: Museum Victoria
Given that many carrion-eating birds are killed by cars whilst dining on previous roadkill victims, this was probably not a bad move! Sadly, according to an echidna monitoring group, one in five sightings of an echidna is of one killed on the road. The spines of an echidna, which are actually modified hairs, are sharp and strong enough to pierce a car tyre - not that this really helps the echidna.
Photo: Siobhan Motherway Source: Museum Victoria
Our Collection Manager came to collect the echidna, remarking as he did so that he wasn't able to tell us whether it was a male or a female, as unless the echidna has young in her pouch, they are fairly indistinguishable on the outside. Australian Echidnas are one of the few species belonging to the order of monotremes. Two species of echidna and the platypus are the only egg-laying mammals, or, as one young visitor to the centre described them, "animals dat lay eggs and boopfeed their babies!" They have other traits that distinguish them from other mammals, including their lower body temperature, slow metabolism and relative longevity.
That is, unless they try to cross a road.
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