{"id":679406,"date":"2026-01-07T07:15:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T07:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/679406\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T07:15:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T07:15:16","slug":"echidna-population-count-underway-in-queensland-amid-urbanisation-and-climate-change-fears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/679406\/","title":{"rendered":"Echidna population count underway in Queensland amid urbanisation and climate change fears"},"content":{"rendered":"

They may be one of Australia’s most recognisable animals, but much about the elusive echidna remains a mystery to scientists \u2014 including how many exist.<\/p>\n

That lack of knowledge has experts worried the species could decline without anyone noticing.<\/p>\n

University of Queensland ecologist Dr Kate Dutton-Regester is leading a first-of-its-kind population survey in south-east Queensland.<\/p>\n

She said researchers still have no baseline numbers for the region, making it difficult to track future declines.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Dr Kate Dutton-Regester\u00a0from the University of Queensland has become one of the state’s leading echidna experts.\u00a0 (ABC News: Tobi Loftus)<\/p>\n

“They are Australia’s most widely distributed mammal \u2026 but being widely distributed does not necessarily mean a species is common,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It would be amazing if they are common, but we regardless need that baseline to monitor them over time \u2026 to be able to determine if they are declining in the future.<\/p>\n

“So that we don’t come to this point in 10, 20, 40 years’ time, and alarm bells are ringing that this species is one no one has seen one for a long, long time.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Echidnas are one of only two mammals that lay eggs.\u00a0 (ABC News: Peter Quattrocelli)<\/p>\n

Dr Dutton-Regester said urbanisation, land clearing and climate change are major threats to echidnas.<\/p>\n

“Habitat fragmentation \u2026 all these sorts of pressures that ultimately put wildlife in more harm’s way \u2026 losing in food resources, more collisions with vehicles \u2026 things like that that are ultimately putting pressure on species across the board,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Echidnas are really sensitive to heat \u2026 and they’re generally not really active outside of their breeding season from May through to early October.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Dr Kate Dutton-Regester regularly takes members of the public on searches for echidnas.\u00a0 (ABC News: Tobi Loftus)<\/p>\n

\u00a0She said she feared rising temperatures could constrict echidnas’ breeding season \u2014 which was why tracking the population was important.<\/p>\n

“They’re already a species that only reproduces every two to six years in the wild,” she said.<\/p>\n

“So, if we’re adding that as well as constricting the breeding season, I really worry that we’re going to be reducing their potential for population maintenance, let alone population growth.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Closing knowledge gap<\/p>\n

To close the knowledge gap, Dr Dutton-Regester has partnered with the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland on EchidnaWatch, a citizen-science project collecting reports of sightings, scats [poo] and diggings.<\/p>\n

Echidna ancestors lived in water like platypus: study<\/a><\/p>\n

A study of a 100-million-year-old bone from an ancient relative of the echidna and the platypus suggests the animal was semiaquatic.<\/p>\n

She has also received funds from the Logan City Council for her research.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Getting people to report their sightings of an echidna, any scats and diggings and things like that that can really help pull all this data in \u2026 which helps us build that baseline of their presence,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Deceased echidnas are also really important to log as well … as that can tell us where echidnas are increasingly getting hit by cars \u2026 so we can perhaps put up some signage.”<\/p>\n

She said sighting reports can be made through the iNaturalist app or the EchidnaWatch website.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

One of Dr Kate Dutton-Regester’s most recent talks took place in Shailer Park in Logan.\u00a0 (ABC News: Tobi Loftus)<\/p>\n

Dr Dutton-Regester and volunteers also run public field trips and workshops across south-east Queensland to teach locals how to spot signs of the animals.<\/p>\n

Echidna’s probable swim from Bribie to mainland<\/a><\/p>\n

Although known to be capable swimmers, a potential one-kilometre ocean swim by an echidna has landed it in hospital.<\/p>\n

During a recent search in Kimberley Forest at Shailer Park, in the Logan region, participants did not find an echidna, but learned how to recognise burrows and scats.<\/p>\n

“I have seen an echidna in the wild only once,” participant Belinda Neal said.<\/p>\n

“I want to know can I see one again and what can I do as a local to help out down the track.”<\/p>\n

A unique species<\/p>\n

Chris Urbanek has been working in the ecology sector for a decade, and said he attended the search because he did not previously know much about the species.<\/p>\n

He said many in the professional community may have the same knowledge gaps.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I had no idea echidnas thermoregulate \u2026 and burrow up to a metre underground,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Dr Kate Dutton-Regester says echidnas are now her “Roman Empire”, meaning she’s always thinking about them.\u00a0 (ABC News: Tobi Loftus)<\/p>\n

Echidnas are one of only two species of mammals \u2014 alongside platypus \u2014 that lay eggs.<\/p>\n

“Before I started researching echidnas, I knew absolutely nothing about them \u2026 now they’re my Roman Empire,” Dr Dutton-Regester said.<\/p>\n

“They’re just so unique. They have a temporary pouch; the females develop only when they’re pregnant.<\/p>\n

“There are some really unique aspects to them that you don’t see in other mammals or other animals in general.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They may be one of Australia’s most recognisable animals, but much about the elusive echidna remains a mystery…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":679407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3847],"tags":[51064,206159,206160,7673,74905,12309,22787,2343,70,16,15,51816,1717],"class_list":{"0":"post-679406","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-animal","9":"tag-australian-animal","10":"tag-australian-ecology","11":"tag-bush","12":"tag-echidna","13":"tag-ecology","14":"tag-forest","15":"tag-research","16":"tag-science","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-university-of-queensland","20":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115852589583896862","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=679406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/679407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=679406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=679406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=679406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}