Placeholder Content Image

Irwins announce devastating loss

<p dir="ltr">The Irwins have announced the devastating death of a treasured “family member”.</p> <p dir="ltr">Bindi Irwin took to Instagram to share the heartbreaking news of their pet echidna, which has been a part of the family for 38 years, died. </p> <p dir="ltr">“Saying goodbye to our beautiful family member of 38 years. The sweetest, kindest, most wonderful echidna you ever did meet. Rest In Peace, angel,” she wrote with a white heart emoji.</p> <p dir="ltr">Along with the post she shared several family photos holding the echidna which has been a part of the family before the kids were born. </p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cg0FTTvBAX3/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cg0FTTvBAX3/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Bindi Irwin (@bindisueirwin)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">Fans of the Irwins shared their heartache and offered their condolences saying they gave the echidna a great life. </p> <p dir="ltr">“Oh my heart, one lucky little one to be loved so true! Sending hugs!” one wrote. </p> <p dir="ltr">“You gave them the best life!” another commented. </p> <p dir="ltr">“I am so extremely sorry for your loss. Heartbreaking,” someone else wrote. </p> <p dir="ltr">“Awww. I bet she's hanging out with your dad swapping stories,” another read.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: Instagram</em></p>

Family & Pets

Placeholder Content Image

"Australian GeoGRAPHIC!": Hilarious echidna pic breaks the internet

<p dir="ltr">A hilarious yet graphic photo of an echidna’s penis has shocked the internet after randomly popping up in their news feed.</p> <p dir="ltr">The photo was uploaded by Australian Geographic asking readers if they had ever seen an echidna’s penis before. </p> <p dir="ltr">The photo in question shows a four-tipped penis with scientists looking into why the mammal’s reproductive system is the way it is. </p> <p dir="ltr">“Have you ever seen an echidna’s penis?” the post read.</p> <p dir="ltr">“You’ve probably asked your friends this in jest, but scientists are working away at unlocking the mystery of the bizarre, four-tipped reproductive system. </p> <p dir="ltr">“Labelled one of the ‘weirdest penises of the animal kingdom’, it's bright red and has four heads.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Now there's a dinner conversation starter…”</p> <p dir="ltr">The internet’s reaction was lighthearted, with many in the comment section leaving funny remarks. </p> <p><iframe style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fausgeo%2Fposts%2F10158869200833339&amp;show_text=true&amp;width=500" width="500" height="780" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p dir="ltr">“Such prickly little buggers obviously they need all the help they can get,” someone joked.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Australian GeoGRAPHIC,” the best comment read.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I'm guessing it's for Russian roulette impregnation,” another commented.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I cannot unsee this. Scarred for life,” someone else joked.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Wears condoms. They fit like a glove,” another comment read. </p> <p dir="ltr">“If I were a female echidna, I’d shuffle away as fast as I could from this thing and if I couldn’t out shuffle it, I’d bury myself as quickly as possible,” someone wrote.</p> <p dir="ltr">Despite the funny comments, Australian Geographic linked back to a <a href="https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2021/05/echidna-penises-why-theyre-so-weird/?fbclid=IwAR3kQEzjVHQDodmTLm7FbqgH7ixIxcm8V0UFNzIHx9xgXofvsqkJaCc2tHI" target="_blank" rel="noopener">research article</a> about why echidna penises are weird.</p> <p dir="ltr">”We’re not really sure why it looks so weird but we do know that they only use their penis for mating, not urine,” reproductive biologist Jane Fenelon said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Because they don’t need it for urine, they had the freedom to make it much more elaborate and this is something you see in other species that only use it for mating.”</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: Australian Geographic</em></p>

Family & Pets

Placeholder Content Image

Masked Singer's Echidna revealed on first night

<p><span>On Monday night's episode of <em>The Masked Singer</em> Australia, the Echidna was the first contestant to be revealed.</span><br /><br /><span>Hiding behind the elaborate mask was none other than the smooth-singing voice of tennis champion Mark Philippoussis.</span><br /><br /><span>Dannii Minogue was not far from the correct guess when she singled out another tennis star, Bernard Tomic, instead.</span><br /><br /><span>Jackie 'O' Henderson got it right however, saying: “I agree that it's a tennis player, and he's got a brilliant serve, he's done modelling. I am locked in Mark Philippoussis.”</span></p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height: 281.3008130081301px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7837286/masked-singer-17.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/1a4e083ae1f94078bfe1c303ec3a1ed8" /><br /><br /><span>Mark admitted he was not happy to be out so early.</span><br /><br /><span>“I was bummed. I'm going to be honest, I am competitive,” he said to host Osher Gunsgerg.</span><br /><br /><span>Mark went on to say that he loves music and singing and enjoyed his time on the show.</span></p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height: 281.3008130081301px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7837287/masked-singer-16.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/e302762712ee4970b8f7d62e97c4f2e4" /><br /><br /><span>“I mean...who doesn't love to sing? I love music. It was an incredible adventure and it was, you know, good to do something where you're uncomfortable,” he said.</span><br /><br /><span>“I definitely was uncomfortable in this mask, but it was an absolute pleasure and it was fun. I had some fun,” he went to add.</span></p>

Music

Placeholder Content Image

The purple knicker-boxers that saved Prickles the echidna

<p><em><strong>Margaret Skeel, 67, is a disability support worker who grew up with an enduring love of wildlife and wilderness. In her spare time she gardens, takes long walks with her blind dog and writes about her life experiences. </strong></em> </p> <p>As a long term wildlife rescuer and rehabber (currently semi-retired and looking after goats and chooks instead), I have far more stories that end in sadness than the happy ending kind. But luckily for you, I don’t write those stories. I much prefer remembering the happy ending stories like these ones.</p> <p>I have had several adult echidnas come into care after some unfortunate encounter with a motor vehicle. As with most encounters between our native wildlife and cars, many have fatal consequences. Echidnas are very determined little characters, who know where they want to go and are intent on getting there. Male echidnas in breeding mood are particularly intent and don’t pay much attention to road conditions!</p> <p>Cars have been given flat tires from echidna spines but for the most part, it is the echidna who gets flattened. Occasionally they survive, but with broken noses, their most vulnerable part. Unfortunately, this is a virtual death sentence since their tongues need a good nose in order to stick out and collect ants and termites, their sole diet. However, if they are not flattened and their noses are intact, echidnas are tough little survivors who bounce back with a bit of care.</p> <p>My first echidna in that category (unflattened, nose intact) taught me just how determined echidnas can be. After a trip to the vet for a check-up and a shot to boost his adrenal glands (both platypus and echidnas have primitive adrenals and boosting them helps them recover from stress and shock, which is assumed for any animal that has a car accident), I took him home in a box. He was out of the box and trying to get out of the car by the time I got there. I put him in my room for the night, intending to release him the next morning. By 3am, my other half was threatening initiation of divorce procedures if something wasn’t done about the noise from the little guy.</p> <p>Bumping, crashing, digging noises had been going on since he first went in there. I turned on the light hoping that would get him to go to sleep. No such luck, he went through every cupboard, shoving everything aside in his search for a way out. He then settled on the door as the most likely escape route and made every effort to dig a tunnel. Finally, I put on my welding gloves (echidnas are the only animal that I need gloves for) scooped him up and headed outside. I put him in the general direction of home and let go. He set off at a good waddle and was never seen again.</p> <p>When I got the second echidna, I knew the bedroom was out. Luckily my son had built me a very good reptile enclosure in the front yard: two sheets of tin bolted together in a circle, secured firmly to a wooden base (rock solid hardwood planks), filled with dirt and rocks and plants for a nice habitat, a shallow pond in the middle, wire chook mesh over the top and securely fastened all the way round. What could go wrong?</p> <p>It was winter and there was a bearded dragon lizard in residence but he was peacefully hibernating under a rock and echidnas don’t eat lizards so no problem I thought, in my innocence. The next morning, the enclosure looked like a bulldozer had been through it. All the rocks were overturned, all the plants ripped out by their roots and the poor lizard upside down and looking very dead. I grabbed him in a panic and began CPR. I warmed him with my hands, pressed on his chest and blew air in his nostrils and slowly he came back to life. Thank goodness! My son would not have been happy if the echidna killed the lizard.</p> <p>I put the lizard in the house to recuperate and then went looking for the bulldozer. He was buried in dirt with his nose pressed against the crack between the wood and the tin and fast asleep, completely oblivious to the damage he had done. That evening, I took him back to where he came from and off he went, with that now familiar determined waddle.</p> <p>My next close encounter of the echidna kind began with an early morning phone call. A friend on her way to work informed me she had found an injured echidna beside the road. She described the location but it was not going to be easy to find. The roadside along that stretch looks the same for a half a kilometre. “Can you mark the location somehow?” I asked. She had a look around but found nothing distinctive so she looked in the back of her car. “There is a pair of old purple boxer shorts back here,” she informed me. “It looks like my husband has been using them as a rag.” “Perfect! I won’t miss them!” I agreed as she stuck the purple knickers on the closest road marker to the site. She went off to work and I headed for the purple knickers. It was a good thing she had left them there as the echidna had wandered off into the long grass, and without the knickers I never would have known where to look!</p> <p>I found a big fat echidna curled up in a ball in the grass. A lot of his spines had been broken but he was still alive. First, of course, there was the required visit to the vet. By this time, I had named my new charge Prickles. The vet examined him and proclaimed him in good health. No food was necessary as he could live off his fat. However, he needed shots to boost his adrenals and I was going to have to give them to him. This involved picking Prickles up, which caused him to roll up into a tight ball, turning him upside down on my lap and waiting for him to unroll enough to grab a leg and give him his shot. Needless to say he was not impressed with this procedure.</p> <p>I kept him in my bedroom for the day so I could give him his shots and then took him out to the reptile enclosure at night. We went through this procedure for three days until all the shots were given. Then it was time to take Prickles home. I fetched my welding gloves and took him for a drive. Up the road from the purple underpants was a small dirt side-track. I found a lovely half rotten fallen log to put him next to. It looked a likely hideout for a termite colony.</p> <p>When he was down, Prickles unrolled slowly. He was probably still worried about a hand shooting out and stabbing him in the leg again. He sniffed around and then started digging. In ten minutes he was buried, so I took my welding gloves and went home after wishing Prickles a long life and many echidna babies for the future.</p> <p>Have you ever seen an echidna in the wild? Share your experience with us in the comments below.</p> <p><span><em>If you've enjoyed Margaret's wildlife stories, she's written a book about a playtpus she once saved, </em></span><em>called <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Platypus-Dreaming-Adventures-Lucky-Friends-ebook/dp/B01FJWS8ZM/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1463288992&amp;sr=8-2-fkmr0&amp;keywords=bilby+skeel&amp;linkCode=sl1&amp;tag=wwwheliumco06-20&amp;linkId=ed0fd2bc666287009c299ccb5f958418" target="_blank">"Platypus Dreaming: The Adventures of One Lucky Platypus and Her</a></strong></span></em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>"</strong></span><em>. She also recently finished a children's book about the legend of the Australian bilby, which can be <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Walpajirri-Adventures-Rabbit-Eared-Bandicoot-Australian-ebook/dp/B01CSJ22QU/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1464041313&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=walpajirri+skeel&amp;linkCode=sl1&amp;tag=wwwheliumco06-20&amp;linkId=a20928b30229dd4556ba6611fd2c48b5" target="_blank">found here.</a></strong></span></em></p> <p><em><strong>If you have a story to share please get in touch at <a href="mailto:melody@oversixty.com.au">melody@oversixty.com.au</a></strong></em></p> <p><strong>Related links: </strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="/lifestyle/family-pets/2014/09/the-benefits-of-having-a-pet/"><em>Why having a pet is SO good for you</em></a></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="/lifestyle/family-pets/2016/01/photos-of-animals-hitchhiking/"><em>Hilarious photos of animals hitchhiking</em></a></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="/lifestyle/family-pets/2015/11/how-to-help-your-pet-conquer-their-phobias/"><em>How to help your pet conquer their phobias</em></a></strong></span></p>

Family & Pets

Placeholder Content Image

Baby echidna born at Australian zoo in a world-first

<p>Australia's Perth Zoo has welcomed two adorable baby echidnas in a world-first breeding milestone.</p> <p>The two babies, also known as puggles, have been named Nyingarn (Nyoongar for echidna) and Babbin (Nyoongar for friend).</p> <p>The puggles are the first to be successfully bred from zoo-born echidnas. </p> <p>A Perth Zoo spokesperson said short-beaked echidnas were very difficult to breed, but changes to animal management had led to the successful birth.</p> <p>"Until now, it was believed female echidnas did not breed until the age of five, so these latest births have shed new light on echidna reproduction," Environment Minister Bill Marmion told ABC.</p> <p>It is hoped the successful breeding program will help in the conservation efforts of the short-beaked echidna’s critically endangered cousin, the long-beaked echidna, which is facing extinction in Papua New Guinea.</p> <p><strong>Related links: </strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/family-pets/2015/11/clever-cop-saves-dog/">Clever cop saves dog with a moment of inspiration</a></em></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/family-pets/2015/12/happiest-dogs-in-the-world/">The happiest dogs in the world</a></em></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/family-pets/2015/11/interspecies-animal-friendships/">15 unlikely friendships that will melt your heart</a></em></strong></span></p>

News

Our Partners