Shuffling

Driving... 

It's all 'smooth sailing' until 

something walks on to the road and stops traffic.

And that, brings me to the echidna...

Echidna – what kind of word is that, anyway?

The echidna is covered in

hollow spines.

photo credit

They have tiny eyes and poor eyesight.

They’re easy enough to catch though –

if you ever stumble across one in the wild.

They shuffle along...

...oblivious to the dangers

around them.

They’re not totally defenseless!

Once startled, their long claws 

might dig into the ground.

They hold on with such incredible strength

that it is almost impossible

to pull them out of the ground...

Not to mention working around their spines.

If the echidna cannot dig into the ground

they will roll into a ball.

Their softer belly will be protected

by a ball of spines.

photo credit

Dingoes, goannas and other predators

have to suffer a mouthful of spines

before reaching the echidna’s flesh.

A dingo with a mouth full of sores

caused by echidna spines

soon learns to leave the echidna alone!

And their tongue....

100 times a minute

that tongue sticks out.

It’s sticky so ants, termites 

and small bugs stick to it.

Back inside the mouth it goes,

covered in delicious echidna food!

There are no teeth in the echidna’s mouth

but hard palettes crush the insects.

I love that they have hairs

 among their many spines.

I love that they can live in the snow

and in the hottest parts of Australia.

I love that you can stumble

on them out in the bush.

I love their shuffle.

I love their colours.

I love that cars will slow

to almost a stop

when an echidna

is crossing a suburban road.