Did you know echidnas can swim?
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One family certainly didn't when they watched a determined little echidna get dragged downstream as it fought to cross across a fast-flowing river.
Furniture maker Matthew Coote was paddling with his young children and nephews when they spotted the echidna in the North Esk River in Corra Linn, southeast of Launceston, Tasmania.
"We were all down in the water, building little dams and playing with the kids. And we literally just looked beside us and we were like 'What the heck? There's an echidna!'" Mr Coote told Australian Community Media.
"It was literally so calm, pretty much just walked through us. Super unusual. We sort of just watched him and took some photos. He didn't mind at all, he knew what he was doing. He was going for it."
The echidna initially walked from rock to rock to get across the river before it ran out of stones and leapt into the flowing water - a moment Mr Coote captured on film.
"Oh no!" the kids shouted as the echidna was immediately dragged downstream by the river current.
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"We were like 'Uh, do they swim?' We don't know. We assumed they would [swim] but we didn't know for sure. So I was getting ready to grab it," Mr Coote said.
But the echidna did not need any help as it used its beak as a snorkel to swim across and find a nook where the current wasn't as strong, allowing it to climb onto the rocks.
"He just climbed up onto the rock and went into a bush. It was just like he knew what he was doing," Mr Coote said.
Echidnas are strong swimmers that have been observed swimming across creeks, rivers, dams and beaches in the past.
Dr Peggy Rismiller, who has researched echidnas for more than 30 years, said the animals often enter the water to entertain themselves.
"Sometimes they are just having fun. Yes, we do see 'play' in echidnas. They have been around for 110 million years and there is nothing new under the sun," Dr Rismiller told Australian Geographic.
"There are stories about people 'rescuing' swimming echidnas only to have them head straight back out into the water. I often get reports from locals who see echidnas swimming across their dams, when it could have easily walked around."
Dr Rismiller said echidnas could also swim to cool down on a hot day or groom themselves.
Echidnas may have even evolved from platypuses 19 to 32 million years ago, according to a molecular study by ANU, the University of Adelaide and the South Australian Museum in 2009.