The Enigmatic Echidna

Discover the secrets of the captivating world of the echidna

There are few animals more unusual than the echidna – a spiky, egg-laying mammal that eats ants. But some of the most striking things about echidnas are things most of us don't know. That they use their snout like a snorkel when they swim; that they can sense electromagnetic fields; that they have intriguingly complex brains, venomous glands, startling physical strength and 'backwards' back feet. That they go into torpor when conditions are poor and can survive fires by sheltering underground. And that during the mating season, male echidnas will line up behind a female, making cooing noises and forming an orderly echidna train, waiting for their chance to impress her with some very strange reproductive equipment!

In The Enigmatic Echidna, biologist and award-winning author Danielle Clode follows the echidna on its eclectic path through the Australian landscape. Equal parts surprising, amusing and enlightening, it is an irresistible journey into their unique and beautiful world.

'Clode is a master at popularising science and making the complex understandable' —Australian Book Review

'One of our great nature writers – she knows the science from the inside and can systematically lay out masses of information in easily digestible form. But she can also be poetic, evocative and moving.' —Insights Magazine