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chris009av Real Deal Bears
Posts: 2,234

This is what I found the other day in my garden near the house.
ech1.jpg

I thought he was so cute, he even lifted his head up for me to take a pic of him  bear_grin

Densteds Densteds
Posts: 2,056
Website

Hi Chris,
I had one of those little fellows in mine a few weeks ago, just love it when they eat all the ants....great pic, I know how hard it is to get one of their face....they're usually so shy!

beary_clairey Luton
Posts: 518

Oh how cute!!!

Claire

puca bears puca bears
Posts: 1,934

Wow - that's really something!!! In all the eight years I lived in Oz, I only ever saw ONE echidna

huggies
Mar bear_flower ia

bearlysane Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 2,188

Chris I love echidnas...we have one of those too at Beechworth.
We call him SPIKE!

Tami E Tami Eveslage Original Teddy Bears
Milford Ohio
Posts: 2,367

Thank you for saying "echidna". I was thinking "Awe, cute! What is it?" It looks like a hedgehog.

beary_clairey Luton
Posts: 518

I thought it was a hedgehog too!!!

D'oh!!!!!!!!!!

hedgehog.gif

LOL

Claire

Tracy ThimbleBeary Originals
Iowa
Posts: 2,049
Website

bear_wub  bear_wub  bear_wub  bear_wub Oh, how cuuuuuute!!!

Jodi Falk Bears by Jodi
Gahanna , Ohio USA
Posts: 3,463

Its not a hedge hog ? UMMMMMMM cute !!

Michelle Helen Chaska, Minnesota
Posts: 2,897

You lucky duck!! How fun to find this little guy in your yard....

Shelli SHELLI MAKES
Chico, California
Posts: 9,939
Website

Shelli Retired Help Advisor, Banner Sponsor

We don't have those here, except in zoos.  How fun to find one wandering in your yard.  Cute!

kallie214 Friends "Fur" Life Bears
Gig Harbor, WA.
Posts: 1,534
Website

*laughing* Tami, Im with you...I had no idea what it was..I was thinking hedgehog or small porcupine.

Ok, so here is a new question...what type of animal do we have here that they dont have there. You know, something we take for granted because we see it all the time......

Bear Hugs,

Kim

puca bears puca bears
Posts: 1,934

BEARS , Kim????
huggies
Maria bear_flower

Judi Luxembears
Luxemburg, Wisconsin
Posts: 7,379

I thought it was a hedgehog too.  How cute...but I have never even heard of an echidna.

When we went to Disney World in Florida a couple of years ago we were walking to our hotel room when my husband said, " Look!  There's a pig-looking thing in that bush" (he had only caught a glimps of the face)...it was an armadillo.  It was so darn cute.  We don't have those types of animals in our neck of the woods...or hedghogs or echidas.

melissa Honeythorpe Bears
Wellington, New Zealand
Posts: 1,789
Website

Neither Australia or New Zealand has racoons, beavers, skunks, chipmunks, or squirrels, badgers, moles....or moose   (ok so mixing up european and american mammals here!)

We do have possums....the ones in Australia are smaller and cuter the ones here are big ol' nasty things and I feel the way about them that Shelli does about racoons.  We don't have foxes but I think Australia might??

Australia has the most fantastic animals: all those fab mammals and marsupials like echidnas, koalas, wombats, kangaroos, platypus etc etc
New Zealand has only one native mammal - two species of bat which are tiny and live in really remote parts of the bush.  We have loads of introduced mammals and as in Australia many of those have had destructive effects on the environment - rabbits in particular but also things like stoats, ferrets, rats, thar, wallabies here in NZ (aussie imports) and domestic and feral cats.

Unlike Europe or America, there's nothing higher in the food chain to eat these things and so they thrive and are incredibly destructive to the native birds and insects.

Interestingly here in NZ, because we had no mammals our insects and birds tend towards gigantism - thus birds like the kiwi and takahe who are heavy non flying birds, and big insects like giant weta.  Oh we also have the oldest type of reptile in the world - the tuatara.

I would love to see some of your Northern Hemisphere animals - especially those little ones.  They have formed so much a part of my childhood reading but they are almost mythical to me!

melissa Honeythorpe Bears
Wellington, New Zealand
Posts: 1,789
Website

oh...another import that did make it here and I never realised wasn't in aus or the US is the humble little hedgehog.  I love hedgehogs - they are very cute.

kallie214 Friends "Fur" Life Bears
Gig Harbor, WA.
Posts: 1,534
Website

Wow...I have never heard of half of those animals...didn't realize I was so "uneducated" about animals in other countries! Boy do I feel dumb *hanging my head in shame*

I never thought about you not having pesky raccoons. I have 6 that visit my house often and actually sit at my sliding glass door and knock on the glass for more cat food!

Aww your missing out with the chipmunks and squirrels! I have several that reside in my backyard. I swear they stick around just to drive my dogs nuts with their chirping *grin*  I'll trade ya a squirrel or raccoon for a koala!


I have attached a pic of some of our raccoons..note the one in the back "washing" his hands in the water bowl before he starts to eat.
raccoons_012.jpg

puca bears puca bears
Posts: 1,934

Oh I am SO jealous!!! I just love racoons, with their "bandit" masks....they are certainly NOT native here, but some are kept as pets, and I believe there are some escapees now living wild. We have plenty of squirrels around here (red ones), and one of my all-time favourite animals - pine martens...I'll have a look for a pic tomorrow and scan one in.
huggies
Maria bear_flower

chrissibrinkley Posts: 1,836

How cute is he?!  Look at that loooonng nosie!! bear_laugh

Well, squirrels I have plenty of!!

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feedersquir4.jpg

melissa Honeythorpe Bears
Wellington, New Zealand
Posts: 1,789
Website

Oh I am so jealous!!!  Look at those racoons and those squirrels.  You are so lucky. And I still can't get my head around the fact that some of you like Daphne and Dilu have real live bears visit your back garden.

karenaus Melbourne
Posts: 694
Website

awww great pic Chris! You must have been patient to get him to lift his head like that!
    I see them sometimes on my dog walks, or beside the road, but they are such masters of camouflage I am sure more see me than I see them bear_happy

     Ahh Squirrels, they are SOOOOOOOO soooooo cute! lol they aren't good pet material are they? They look like they would be the cutest pets- as well as chipmunks. Raccoons are adorable too.... Deer are so pretty at a distance (had a close call with a deer last time I was there- poor Deer:(  )
    Yes  we do have Foxes Melissa-  there are now foxes in Tasmania and are trying to eradicate them before they decimate the wildlife there.
     I always feel so fortunate to see wild creatures, even the bunnnies and foxes that are technically pests here.

chris009av Real Deal Bears
Posts: 2,234

Oh I just adore squirells, I had never seen any untill I had a holiday in England. 
I could have watched them all day  bear_grin
Mellisa, that was so interesting reading about your animals in NZ, I had no idea what you had besides the Kiwi of course  bear_grin
Kallie, I love those racoons, I haven't seen a real one only pics, and thats a great shot.  :photo:
I sometimes have Koala's in the yard and Kangaroo's wander through.
But this little achidna is a resident.  I shouldn't say little because he is big for an echidna.
It is really great seeing animals from our yards across the world.  bear_original

Stellajella Wien
Posts: 1,399

Chris, I guess, even at your place this is a rare sight, right? And so sweet! bear_wub

Kim, your racoons are adorable! Is it true, that so many of them have rabies?

Gaby bear_flower

melissa Honeythorpe Bears
Wellington, New Zealand
Posts: 1,789
Website

Chris

Last time I came to Melbourne I went to the zoo.  I was totally excited to see the bears - extra special because when we arrived their area the keepers were there hiding food in barrels and in rocks in the river and trees etc so we got to see them in the water, and climbing and so forth.

I was most excited to see the Aussie animals...tee hee all I saw was a Koala's bum!  I'm sure they heard our Kiwi accent and hid deliberately.  Not a single echidna, wombat or koala would come out to say hello.  Found the snakes section fascinating.  Apart from an encounter with a water snake when I was in New Caledonia, I've never ever seen a snake.  We're a complete snake free zone - as far as I'm aware none of our zoos have them either.

I might be coming to Melbourne again in a fortnight's time for work.  If I do go I might have to see if I can fly in early the day before and go to the zoo again.

kallie214 Friends "Fur" Life Bears
Gig Harbor, WA.
Posts: 1,534
Website

As you  can see by the photo, I just dropped some food out there for them so I could get some good pics. As far as rabies, I dont think they do, but I certainly dont want to find out. I havent heard of a case of rabies in years!
You should hear these critters eat! They snort and hiss at each other and sound so mean, but in reality, I can stand out there with them and I never feel threaten at all.

Well I'm off to get some work done.

Bear Hugs,

Kim

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