December 31st, 2025Hepburn Wildlife Shelter

A new arrival at the Hepburn wildlife shelter is a creature called a puggle. This is the baby form of the echidna, one of Australia’s unique egg laying mammals, known as monotremes.
Female echidnas lay one egg which they immediately pick up with pseudo pouch muscles in their belly that will hold the egg and then the puggle. The egg will hatch in about 10 days, whist the puggle will be carried for 45 – 50 days.
This little puggle is approximately four weeks old. Its mother was badly injured when a landholder decided to move a pile of branches using machinery and she died soon after as a result of her injuries.
When piles of branches and leaves have been in situ for a period of time wildlife will often begin to use them as a home. Some animals such as birds old enough to fly can quickly remove themselves from the pile if a person decides to burn or move it.
Other animals such as lizards will be slower to move especially in the cooler weather. But the echidna’s response to danger is not to move away from it but to dig down into the earth. This is not a good move when machinery or fire are involved, because they will not have time to create a burrow and will be just putting themselves into a small hollow in the earth. This will not protect them.
Echidnas will also dig a nesting burrow underneath a pile of branches and leaves where there is a constant temperature. When the mother is no longer carrying the puggle it will seal the young in, whilst it forages for ants, termites and small insects. The puggle is completely vulnerable during this time.
Female echidnas do not have teats or nipples, they have a patch on their underside that exudes milk from pores. The puggle will feed by hanging upside down and gripping strongly to the mother’s underside while licking and sucking the milk patch. Gayle Chappell from the Hepburn Wildlife Shelter tells me that this makes feeding the puggle very slow as it will keep trying to turn upside down. A puggle will feed from its mother for up to 12 months.
This little puggle will be a resident of the shelter for at least six months and will require feeding with specialized milk formulas relevant to its size and age.
When we live so close to nature as we do in the Hepburn Shire, it is kind to consider the wildlife in everything we do. An alternate to large piles of branches stacked for burning is for landholders to create smaller piles of branches that can be left to decompose which will create safe habitat for wildlife and will eventually be compost that will enrich the surrounding soil.
Dr Marita McGuirk is a field ecologist and environmental scientist, and a volunteer at the Hepburn Wildlife Shelter. Marita writes monthly columns about the shelter and the animals it cares for. If you would like to donate or volunteer, or just to find out more information, head to www.hepburnwildlifeshelter.org