The Kangaroo Valley Environment Group is monitoring the number of echidna sightings in the valley at this time each year. Echidnas breed during July to September every year, so that is the best time to spot them in the wild as they are most active.
We will never know the actual number of echidnas in the valley because they are shy, elusive and unpredictable, so are impossible to find and count.
However we can record the sightings of echidnas during the same week each year and compare the number of sightings. This is the fourth annual Count using the citizen science website iNaturalist.
Of the four species of echidna, our Short Beaked Echidna is the only one that is not Critically Endangered or Vulnerable.
Two species are critically endangered. The Sir David’s Long Beaked Echidna found in Papua is found only within a 20 square kilometre area, but it may already be extinct, and the Western Long Beaked Echidna of New Guinea is also in trouble.
The Eastern Long Beaked Echidna, which is also found in New Guinea, is listed as Vulnerable, with perhaps only 10,000 individuals left and is extinct in many parts of its former range.
The population of our Short Beaked Echidna in Australia is unknown. The Echidna CSI project of Adelaide University collects all Australian recordings of echidnas in iNaturalist here: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/echidna-csi The echidna observations added during the Kangaroo Valley Echidna Counts are automatically included in that project, as well as any echidna observations recorded in the valley at other times. The iNaturalist data can be used in population research.
If you would like to prepare for the Echidna Count you can download the iNaturalist app to your mobile phone and practise using it to record any species you see in the next few weeks.
There is a good step-by-step video of how to use iNaturalist made by the Canadian Wildlife Federation here:
There is a more detailed step-by-step video guide about how to use iNaturalist here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pvttbnKog4
Or there are some brief video guides here: https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/video+tutorials#add_mob
Kate Watson
For Kangaroo Valley Environment Group
