- What's going on, Coyote Pack?
Are you ready to meet one of the most bizarre creatures
to call Australia home?
Let me give you a hint as to what you're about to see,
it has no teeth, it has hair and it also lays eggs,
any guesses?
If you don't know what it is, stay tuned,
'cause we're about to enter into its enclosure.
No gloves, I'm gonna try to do this without gloves,
without getting spiked.
Oh,
oh, oh, super spiky.
(upbeat jungle music)
Wow, look at that arachnid.
Australia's famously known for its iconic mix
of unique animal species,
many of which can not be found anywhere else in the world.
Some of them, like the kangaroo are incredibly plentiful
and it's not uncommon in the least
to see them quickly hopping across the outback.
When it comes to recognizable reptiles,
when you think Australia,
you definitely think about crocodiles,
however, to my surprise,
they were actually rarer than you may think,
as both the freshwater and saltwater varieties
inhabit mainly the Northern Territory,
but what about the animals that aren't considered icons,
the ones who are seldom seen, due to their elusive nature
and who in many cases,
are also considered to be nature's oddities?
Today we're back at the Billabong Sanctuary,
located in Nome, a small town just south
of Townsville, the North, Queensland,
proudly listed as one of Australia's
top ecotourism attractions,
this family-owned and operated establishment
is home to over 50 native species,
including what I consider to be
the continent's undisputed champion,
when it comes to the title of most bizarre.
So if you are ready,
let's see if we can get up close with the echidna.
Alright, come on, guys.
Now the keepers have left the door slightly ajar,
let's go inside and be extra quiet
and see if we can find it.
(light suspenseful music)
Oh, it's right here, come in, come in, come in.
You have to be careful where you step,
when you're in this enclosure,
because look at that,
almost like a biological landmine,
you may think that this is some sort of cacti,
but that is in fact an echidna.
- [Mark] That's an animal?
- That's an animal and it is buried down in the dirt,
you guys wanna see it, I've gotta dig it up
and that's about it, kinda looks like a sea urchin, right?
- [Mark] That's it?
- That's it.
- [Mark] It's just a ball of spikes.
- A ball of spikes, looks like porcupine quills
and it's not something you wanna come in
and sit down to have a picnic on,
so you're just gonna sit right here next to it.
Whoa, now it's really starting to move,
hey buddy, how ya doing in there?
Now, actually it's a lot bigger then that,
it is buried down in the dirt and what we're seeing
right here is an incredible, defensive pose,
now this creature is incredibly speedy,
when it comes to digging and all he needs to do
is sense something dangerous in its environment,
like a dingo and they will immediately
use their claws and their powerful legs
to dig down into a little burrow like that
and rack these spines up in the air
and it's very tough to eat something
that is covered in spines like that, but--
- [Mark] So will those come off into your fingers?
- No, its quills do not release from its body
like that of a porcupine,
in fact, they're not related to porcupines at all
and I know you guys really wanna see this creature
and to do that, I'm gonna have to dig it up
and no gloves, I'm gonna try to do this without gloves,
without getting spiked, now, these spikes are non-venomous,
but if I'm spiked by them, it is gonna cause some irritation
and it's gonna be very itchy.
- [Mark] Are they sharp?
- They're razor sharp, here, bring your hand in here
and just kind of prop down on top there,
it's like a pin cushion, right?
- [Mark] Argh!
- [Coyote] Yeah, like every time you touch it, it moves
and even that, imagine if you were a dingo
and you come into the environment to sniff this,
even that little movement can give you
a good poke right in the nose.
- [Mark] Yeah, you can feel as it kind of laid down,
when it budges, they get like...
- Hm-mm. - really stiff.
- [Coyote] Yep, they can lay flat and then they can also
be racked like that to protect the creature,
when it's buried down underneath soft soil.
- [Mark] Wow, are you sure you wanna do this?
- Well yeah, you guys wanna see it up close, right?
- Sure, I wanna see it. - Alright.
- [Mark] But only if you're willing.
- Oh yeah, well, let me see,
my tactic here is gonna be to try to get to its underside,
now their bellies are much softer than the top side,
so if I can get my hands sort of underneath it,
I can pull it out and what it's gonna do
is curl up into a ball.
Here we go,
oh, I got it, I got it.
Oh, here comes the face, is that his head right there?
No, that's the rump end.
Oh wow, he's incredibly strong, here we go,
ah, I got ya, I got ya, got it,
there it is, that's an echidna right there,
oh, oh, oh, super spiky,
can you see its face on that side?
- [Mark] Yeah.
- There's a little face right there.
Actually if I sit down here, I'm gonna plop it on my lap,
it's a dangerous little maneuver,
but I wanna hold it like this.
- [Mark] Wow, look at the spikes sticking out.
It looks just like a sea urchin.
- [Coyote] Hold on, I've gotta get by the belly.
Ow, ow, ow, ow.
- [Mark] Actually, you know what, Coyote?
- Yeah?
- [Mark] You know what that animal reminds me of?
- What's that?
- [Mark] That video game we used to play?
- My favorite video game? - Yeah.
- Sonic the Hedgehog?
And actually what's really cool about the echidna
is that the echidna was a character in the Sonic series,
you guys remember Knuckles, the red one?
He had those boxing gloves, he was actually an echidna,
based off of this animal and look at that cute, little face,
you see that elongated nose?
That is specialized for catching insects,
now they're insectivores, which means they primarily feed
on bugs and they specialize in eating ants and termites
and similar to an anteater, they don't have teeth,
but they have a long, sticky tongue,
they use that tongue to kind of feel around
inside of old, rotting logs, underneath rocks
and around in termite and ant nests,
what they will do is just kind of suck
those creatures up into their mouths
and grind them up against the roof of their mouth
and then they have a meal.
Hi, bud, oh, you're so cute and dirty,
look at that little foot, look at those paw pads
and they feel just like Latex
and look at that big claw upfront, it's like a shovel.
It's interesting how the front legs
are very similar to the back legs,
'cause these are the little back legs here,
see how stout they are?
- [Mark] Little, chubby feet.
- Yeah and little pads feel like Latex
and the front feet, you actually can't see the front feet
really well, but they kind of look like the foot of a mole,
it's interesting, this animal's like the combination
of so many different creatures
and I find that that seems to be the case
with many of the animals here in Australia,
they're like this weird mix
of all these different creatures,
that we're used to seeing in the United States.
- [Mark] What does the echidna smell like?
- Oh, I'm not sure I wanna get my,
ooh, musky, a little musky,
I don't know if they secrete any sort of musk
or if that's just from the dirt
that it's been burying around in.
- [Mark] Do they shed their quills?
- Yes, they can shed their quills, just like hair
and they do actually have hair,
little, coarse, bristly hairs in between all of these spines
and their skin is incredibly leathery.
Now, other than the platypus,
this is the only mammal, that lays eggs
and the female will actually carry the egg inside of her
for several months and then when she lays it,
it takes about 10 days for it to hatch.
So bizarre, a mammal that lays eggs.
- [Mark] And how many eggs do they lay at once?
- Just a single egg, that's it,
one egg is all this animal will lay.
Let me see if I can set it down for a second,
if it'll start to walk.
Here we go, watch this,
you guys wanna see it dig into the ground?
Watch how fast it's able to burrow down, watch this.
(patting ground)
Any sort of disturbance in the environment,
look at that, they actually push the dirt out to the sides
and those stout, little legs and claws
allow them to do this,
so they don't necessarily dig down forward
to protect themselves, they dig straight down,
so that then they can create that pin cushion defense pose
and they have incredible camouflage too,
I mean, any sort of environment
that's made of sticks and leaves and dirt
and this thing is gonna blend in perfectly.
Now look at that, it's already buried back down,
alright, let me see if I can get him back up here.
- [Mark] I'm surprised you put it back down,
after it took you so long to dig it up.
- Yeah, I didn't really think about that.
Okay, they're so like, this is me trying to lift the echidna
out from under the ground and it is locked in place,
now you can imagine if it nestled itself
up against a log or in between some rocks,
it'd be absolutely impossible for a predator to dislodge it.
Alright, let's see if we can bring the echidna
back up from under the dirt.
Come here, buddy, oh, so strong.
- [Mark] Dangerous kind of operation there.
- [Coyote] Whoa.
- There's his face. - Get the dirt off.
- There's the little nose, alright, bud?
Oh, pretty cool, huh?
- [Mark] That's really cool.
- You wanna pet its back?
- [Mark] I kinda wanna try to hold it.
- You wanna try to hold it?
- [Mark] Do you think that's okay?
- Ah, yeah, you just gotta get it from underneath here,
here, go ahead and set down your camera real quick.
- [Mark] Okay, put my camera.
Alright.
- Just be really, really gentle.
- I was told if I keep my hands flat.
- Yeah, actually if you put your hands flat,
I can kind of lay it on you like that
and then kind of feel for the belly,
there you go, there you go.
- [Mark] It's got me.
- You got it?
Spiky, right? - Oh, it's super spiky.
I got ya, I got ya, buddy.
- Pretty cool, huh?
Hi. - That's pretty cool.
- Now, what most people probably don't know
is that Knuckles was your favorite
Sonic the Hedgehog character, right?
- He was.
The underside is really soft, - Right.
- and fur-coated. - Yeah.
- You would never think that by looking at the top.
- Well, you can have a really soft underbelly,
I guess if you have back hair and spines like this guy,
- It's got me. (laughs)
- Alright, I'll just set it on my knee.
- [Mark] He's got me, hold on.
Got it? - Yeah, I got him.
- [Mark] They have a strong grip.
- [Coyote] Yeah, they really do.
- Quite the handshake. (laughs)
- Those little stubby feet really can grab on to you.
- [Mark] It's really warmed up.
- Yeah, at this point,
I feel like we're pretty comfortable together,
I'm not getting spined too bad, we're just hanging out.
- [Mark] You know, I found out what that echidna's name is,
you wanna know?
- Yeah, what's his name?
- Spike. - Spike.
(laughing)
That's a good, original name for an echidna like this.
Well, this was pretty cool,
getting up close to one of the only monotremes
that's here in Australia, the echidna.
I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave,
stay wild, we'll see you on the next adventure.
Alright, set him back down in the dirt
and he's gonna disappear, you ready?
And there he goes, oh, yummy, good.
Echidnas truly rank as being
one of the planet's most uniquely bizarre animals
and while their spike-covered bodies may give them
an outwardly aggressive looking appearance,
these ambling little monotremes
are as kind-hearted as it gets.
If you ever encounter one of these egg-laying mammals
in the wild, do not attempt to pick it up,
trust me when I say, you will regret those spines.
However, if you simply admire it from a respectful distance,
I promise that an encounter with an echidna
is something you will never forget.
Hey, Coyote Pack, I have some exciting news,
I'm proud to announce that the crew and I
will be back on tour in 2018 with Brave Wilderness Live,
visiting cities all across North America.
Our first shows are in Anaheim and San Diego, California,
from there we head to Phoenix, Arizona,
beyond that, we will be visiting San Francisco, California,
Portland, Oregon, Seattle, Washington
and Boulder, Colorado with many more shows
to be announced in the coming months.
Tickets can be purchased at the Brave Wilderness website,
so make sure to reserve your seats today
and don't forget, subscribe, so you can join
me and the crew on this season of Breaking Trail.
I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave!
- [Audience] Stay wild!
(light jungle music)