Wednesday 03 August 2005 6:54:59 pm

Reply from Mr Simon

Hi Jasmine,

good to read that you're back in community and back at school.

I'm glad you asked this question - because it's a strange little thing. The echidna actually lays the egg directly into its own pouch. It sounds funny, I know, but the echidna actually rocks back on its bum and curls its body so that it can lay the egg onto its own belly so that it can then carry it around. This is one of the key features that makes the echidna such a strange animal - how many others do you know of that do this? None, I hope!

I'll try to get a photo of an echidna doing this to bring back to Yande.