Sep. 1st, 2004
An encounter of the spiny kind
Sep. 1st, 2004 07:14 pmHad to drop by the supermarket this afternoon, being out of dog food. Tempted as I was to let her go hungry because she ate it all, that would be too mean. Although if she doesn't stop barking at me now, I might after all.
So, I'm walking along the footpath that runs beside the racecourse and I see a small, grey/brown animal waddling across in front of me. From the angle I'm looking it, it resembles a small cat, except cats don't waddle.
I get a bit closer and, yep, it's an echidna. Waddling slowly along as echidnas do, apparently oblivious to anything around it, except for occasionally stopping and putting its head into the grass.
Echidnas are about the same height & length as a small cat, as in an adolescent kitten, but twice as wide. Round, and they're round for a reason.
This one was making its way towards the fence around the racecourse but at an angle, that took it past the gate and up against the chainlink fence that was very tight across the ground. No apparent room for an echidna to squeeze through, whereas the gate had a gap under it. I thought I might be able to get it to walk back that way but standing in front of it but instead it responded as all echidnas do when threatened. It tucked in its tail and tucked in its pointy head and crouched down, becoming a sping, furry ball that wasn't going anywhere.
I tried poking at it with a stick of bark to see if it would back up or something useful but it just sat there. So I left it.
So, I'm walking along the footpath that runs beside the racecourse and I see a small, grey/brown animal waddling across in front of me. From the angle I'm looking it, it resembles a small cat, except cats don't waddle.
I get a bit closer and, yep, it's an echidna. Waddling slowly along as echidnas do, apparently oblivious to anything around it, except for occasionally stopping and putting its head into the grass.
Echidnas are about the same height & length as a small cat, as in an adolescent kitten, but twice as wide. Round, and they're round for a reason.
This one was making its way towards the fence around the racecourse but at an angle, that took it past the gate and up against the chainlink fence that was very tight across the ground. No apparent room for an echidna to squeeze through, whereas the gate had a gap under it. I thought I might be able to get it to walk back that way but standing in front of it but instead it responded as all echidnas do when threatened. It tucked in its tail and tucked in its pointy head and crouched down, becoming a sping, furry ball that wasn't going anywhere.
I tried poking at it with a stick of bark to see if it would back up or something useful but it just sat there. So I left it.