{"id":9128,"date":"2021-04-18T16:49:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-18T16:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/central.digitalschools.com.au\/?p=9128"},"modified":"2026-04-12T02:49:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T02:49:26","slug":"natural-history-the-short-beaked-echidna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wandinnorthps.vic.edu.au\/upschool\/guest-contributors\/natural-history-the-short-beaked-echidna\/","title":{"rendered":"Natural History: The Short-beaked Echidna"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Natural History: The Short-beaked Echidna<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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At the end of a year spent isolated, a little emblem of hope has emerged. A symbol of conservation, community, natural wisdom and curiosity, the echidna is the final of the 5 environmental ambassadors for our Natural History project.<\/span><\/h2>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Scientific name:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Tachyglossidae<\/span><\/div>
Order:<\/span>\u00a0Montremata<\/span><\/div>
Higher classification:\u00a0<\/span>Monotreme<\/span><\/div>
Family<\/strong>:\u00a0<\/span>Tachyglossidae;<\/span>\u00a0Gill, 1872<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Introduction<\/h3>

We are blessed to live on a continent abundant with native animals and plant species. Creatures live here that are found nowhere else. The earth here, stained red with rich mineral ochres, our coastlines immersed in marine national parks and our country\u00a0inhabited by the oldest living culture on earth.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>

Australia is not just, \u2018the land down under\u2019, it\u2019s a rich and wondrous treasure trove of rare and beautiful creatures, that are sadly going extinct and the reality of this is unnoticed. With our minds taken hold by the uncertainty of our personal health, global economy, and relative future in the wake of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic, the natural world and the present global environmental crisis, has taken a back step in the media.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>

It\u2019s my hope this project, with its final ambassador ignites curiosity and passion for the natural world we are living in. It\u2019s been a tough year for human beings, but an even harsher one for all the other life forms who are subject to the realities of climate change, habitat loss and human behaviour.\u00a0<\/p>

We watched 17 million hectares of forest in Australia burned to nothing during the 2019, 2020 wildfires, and with the forest went billions of wild animals and insects. Koala, almost totally extinct, and habitat is gone for any animal that might have survived.\u00a0<\/p>

As a nation we are known to rally in tough times when it concerns the human family, but not so much for the rest of our people, and by that, I mean all other living beings. Now is the time to put\u00a0our curious and creative minds together and figure out a way to make life better for all living things before we all become \u2013 natural history.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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