Many thanks Rob, that’s what we thought at first, but for the whole 2.5 hours there was no sense of any train or of one particular echidna being followed by the others, or of one being “dominant”.
They were always feeding very close together and cooperatively much more in a “clump” rather than a line. Regards Jack Holland
From: Rob Geraghty <>
Sent: Sunday, 30 August 2026 9:55 AM
To:
Cc: Canberrabirds <>
Subject: Re: [Canberrabirds] Egg layers but not Aves
Male Echidnas will follow females in "trains" in mating season. Lots of people are seeing this behaviour at Mulligan's Flat.
On Sun, 30 Aug 2026, 8:51 am jandaholland--- via Canberrabirds, <> wrote:
For at least the past month there have been signs of Echidnas around our place in Chapman including seeing one in our garden, but what we witnessed yesterday afternoon was remarkable.
One of our dogs first alerted us to not one but 3 Echidnas. They were first just outside our side fence, but then they gradually worked themselves along our back fence very close
together while they fed very cooperatively, never more than about 25 cm apart. The gaps they managed to get through, as well their ability to climb some low walls was surprising. At one stage they were only a meter or so away from our back door. After around
2.5 hours they moved away quite quickly. There was no clear size difference.
Has anyone had a similar experience? Of the many photos on the NatureMapr there is only one showing 2 together. A few years ago we had two as well, but they spent most of the
morning under our daughter’s car before wandering off separately.
Jack Holland
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