Max and the

Echidna

Max is nine and he is off on an adventure in a magic red helicopter,

looking for strange and new creatures in the bush.

Written by Lesley Dewar

Max and the Echidna

This is a story for Max.

It is a gift from your Ma.

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Max and the Echidna.

Once upon a time, there was a young boy called Max. He gotup extra early one morning. When he went to bed the nightbefore, he was promised there would be something red andmagical outside for him in the morning. And there was!

Max got a special surprise. On his back lawn was a magic redhelicopter, and he was allowed to go for a ride in it!It only looked small but when he got up close hecould see there was a Nana in there.

She said “hop in, Max and let’s go for a birthdayride.” She said to Max “I know you love your newmotor bike. Your birthday was on November 27

and you turned NINE. Jack is one of your friends, and you livewith your older sister Kaylah on a cattle and grain station inQueensland, called Kilcummin. You love all the John Deeremachinery, and rounding up the cattle with dogs and a drone.

“It’s never too early or too late to have a birthday ride in ourmagic red helicopter, Max. We have a long way to go andthings to see, so let’s use my magic helicopter today.”

Max hopped in and away they went – in the twinkling of aneye.

“What are we going to see, Nana?” asked Max. “We are goingto see an echidna,” she told him. “They live in the bush inAustralia in lots of places, and they look like a hedgehog butthey are not even cousins.” It’s not easy to find an echidna,even for a Nana in a helicopter. First, she and Max flew overthe desert to see what they could find.

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They found a big goanna, who lives in the red sand ofthe desert.

But the Goanna didn’t know wherethey would find an echidna. “Theydon’t live in my desert,” she said.

She knew what an echidna was,though. “I don’t want to meetone, anyway.

“They have too many prickles for me and I couldn’t eatone,” she said.

Nana and Max flew away, still looking. Max said “Howdoes she know what an echidna looks like, if they don’tlive in her desert?”

Nana said "Because she talks to lots of kangaroos anddingos and eagles, who visit her desert, Max. They alltalk about what they have seen."

“And old Man Emu, too. Do you know, every emu israised by a single Dad? Now, that’s a surprise foryou!”

Nana and Max flew to the bush much closer to whereNana lived. “Let’s see who else we can find, Max,” shesaid. “What would you like?”

“Well, I have seen a lot of kangaroos,” said Max. “But Iwould love to see a koala bear, as well as an echidna, ifwe can.

Max is very polite and always says ‘Please’

“Easily done!” said Nana and the helicopter landed onthe lawn near her house.

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Much to Max's surprise, there weresome kangaroos just sitting therelooking at them in their magic redhelicopter. “They come every day to myhouse,” Nana told Max. “They don’t eatthe garden and they are very friendly.But they are not the big red kangaroosyou are used to seeing, Max.”

While Max and Nana were sitting in the helicopterwatching the kangaroos, Max heard someone laughingat them. It was such a strange sound, he was a bitstartled. “What is that, Nana?” he asked. “What ismaking that funny laughing sound? I don’t feel funnyand we don’t look funny either.”

“Don’t be worried by them, Max,” said Nana. “They arejust kookaburras and they laugh like that all the time.They won’t hurt YOU but they do catch snakes; theyeat mice and sometimes they do steal baby birds.”

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“They are laughing because they like to tease my oldDalmatian dog, Pepper. She hates it when she gets laughed atand they have her running up and down, barking at them, allday long.”

Before Nana and Max could take off in the magic red helicopter,because they were still watching the kangaroos, and listeningto the kookaburras, they saw a strange little animal with a veryfunny walk.

It was the ECHIDNA, just about to disappear downa hole!

The Echidna has spines, a long snout and strongclaws. When they walk, they seem to roll fromside to side, as if they were walking on a shipinstead of being on the land.

“A baby Echidna is called a “puggle”; its mother lays an eggand carries it in a pouch on her tummy. Kangaroos havepouches too, deep ones like a real pocket." Nana told Max.

"An Echidna pouch is not much more than a fold in the skin onthe outside of the mummy’s tummy, where she doesn’t haveany spines. The egg hatches after about ten days and the babyEchidna is the size of a jelly bean,” Nana said.

Max was amazed!

“It just hangs on to the hair on its mother’s skin, and sucks upthe milk from a couple of feeding patches. The mother keeps itin there until it starts to grow its spines,” Nana told him. “Afterthat, she leaves it at home in her burrow while she goes outfeeding.

“And what, young Max, do you think they eat? “

Max slowly shook his head and said “Nana, I don’t know.”

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**Acknowledgement: The lovely Numbat photo in this story is publishedwith the permission of the photographer Panda Broad. On my first trip toNannup, I did see a Numbat in the forest, but it was a night and I was notable to photograph it. This numbat was photographed by Panda only afew hundred yards further into the forest, in broad daylight.

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“Before I tell you, Max, we have to see one more amazingAustralian animal” said Nana, as she and Max flew away againin the magic red helicopter “and then it will be time for you togo back home.”

“We will have to fly up the road a bit, as well, to see a koalaand do you know they are not actually a bear? They are just akoala!”

With a flash of red, they landed in a special place in the forestway down in the south of Western Australia, in the Dryandra

Forest and Nana said “Sssshhhh! Look!”

Max looked and looked and he couldn’t seeanything. “Over there, look!” Nana pointedand Max took a deep breath.

“What is that tiny little thing? Is it a sort of wild kitten? It’sonly very small.”

Nana laughed. “That is something hardly anyone has everseen, but I have! That is a NUMBAT! It is totally harmless andvery shy. There are not many left in the wild, but in our magicred helicopter we know where to come to see them.”

Max was impressed but he hadn’t forgotten what Nana had saidabout what Echidnas eat, that they had to see the Numbat firstbefore she would tell him.

“Tell me, Nana,” said Max. “Why did we have to see theNumbat before you told me what the Echidna eats?” Nanasmiled.

“Because, Max, they both eat the same thing and that is theirabsolute favourite food and almost the only thing they eat.They eat TERMITES! 1,000s and 1,000s of termites every day.

The echidna is a lazy eater, as well, because he likes ants, too.He will lie on an ant nest with his sticky tongue out, and let theants walk all over it, and then, thlup! He sucks them all up!

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“They are a very environmentally friendly way to deal with antsand termites (including digging up their eggs). A Numbat willeat about 20,000 termites a day and an Echidna can eat up to2kg of termites in a single meal. By the way,” she said “the biggoanna loves termites and termite eggs, as well.”

Max was very impressed. “This has been a fantastic birthdayride, Nana. I have got so much to tell Jack and Kaylah and myMa when I get home. Is it time to go, now?”

“Yes, Max. It has been a lot of fun. As we scoot on back to yourhome, we will make one quick stop for you to see a koala, butdon’t be too surprised if it doesn’t even know you are there.They sleep all day!”

Sure enough, when theylanded near the koala tree, hewas sleeping. “Too bad, koala,”said Max. “I am going homeafter my Birthday surprise andyou don’t even know I came tosee you.”

“Don’t worry, Max,” Nana said.“I will tell him that you came

on your Birthday magic ride. He gets a bit sulky sometimesbecause he misses out on lots of birthday visits, but there’s notmuch we can do about that. He is always sleeping."

Even all the way from the South West of Western Australia, ittook no time at all for the magic red helicopter to whisk Maxhome and land on the back lawn at Kilcummin on the DiamondDowns, in Queensland. He gave Nana a hug and tumbled out ofthe helicopter – running towards his house.

He stopped, waved and watched Nana and her helicopter flyaway.

“Happy Birthday, Max!” she called. “We hope you have a lovelyday. We hope to see you again, very soon.”

…oo0oo…

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Octopus’s Garden“I’d like to beunder the sea

in an octopus’s garden in the shade.We would shoutand swim about

the coral that lies beneath the waves.”

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Octopus’s Garden“I’d like to beunder the sea

in an octopus’s garden in the shade.We would shoutand swim about

the coral that lies beneath the waves.”

Ringo Starr wrote this song for The Beatles in 1969.He says “I wrote Octopus’s Garden in Sardinia. PeterSellers had lent us his yacht and we went out for theday… I stayed out on deck with [the captain] and wetalked about octopuses. He told me that they hang outin their caves and they go around the seabed findingshiny stones and tin cans and bottles to put in front oftheir cave like a garden.” This inspired him to write thesong that features in the Beatle’s movie “YellowSubmarine”.

Octopuses really are amazing creatures. They are veryintelligent and live in cave-like dens in the rocks. Theyoften close up the front of the cave with rocks andshells, leaving only a small entry way through whichthey virtually ooze, coming and going from theirhomes. When they catch their prey, especially crabs,they return to their dens to dine.

Their garden is the collection of bones, spines, andshells left over from previous meals along with anyshiny things they have collected, like tin cans.

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If you were an octopus, you would· have three hearts;· a sharp, horny beak;· six arms and two legs – any one of which you

could re-grow if you lost it;· be related to slugs and garden snails;· be able to change the color of your skin or squirt

ink to hide from your enemies.

Octopuses do not have tentacles, but six arms and twolegs with a fine membrane (mantle) that unites themat the top.

An octopus may be clutching dozens of crabs and clamsas it cruises the shore, using the mantle like ashopping bag, to take it full of food back to the den. Toeat, they pass food from sucker to sucker to the hardbeak in their mouth. Their suckers are able to bothsmell and taste – they are not just for holding on tothings.

So, when an octopus is running its arms over thingsand gently touching with its suckers, it is really havinga little sniff and taste to see if it is worth eating.

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Some octopus are dangerous, though – especially thelittle blue-ringed octopus that does live in rocks andcrevices around Western Australian and othercoastlines. It spends most of its time hiding away,because lots of fish and seals like to eat them.

It may pile up rocks in front of its hiding place –making a little octopus garden. If it gets excited orupset, it begins to display bright blue rings on its arm.This is always a warning sign that the octopus is upset.

“Max, once, when my three kidswere quite young, we were at thebeach at Cottesloe and we had beenswimming, snorkelling, and collectingstones and shells from the reef that

is quite close to shore,” Nana explained to Max.

“When we decided to pack up and go home, I askedthe boys (Warren and Colin) to put all the shells andstones back in the water. After all, they were probablysomeone’s home.

“Little did we know!

“While we were gathering everything together, a littleoctopus with bright blue rings came crawling out of oneof the bigger shells and walked right across Warren’sarm. We knew NOTHING about blue ringed octopusand thought it was pretty cute!

“Warren just picked it off his arm, took it down to thewater and let it go. We watched it quickly swim away.”

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“It’s a bit funny now, but it would not have been funnyat all if it had bitten him because they are both deadlyand give a very painful bite,” Nana Lesley finished.

Like all octopuses, it swims by forcing water through afunnel – making it jet propelled. If the blue-ringedoctopus loses an arm, it can grow it back within sixweeks – just as a crab can grow back a claw or a leg ithas lost.

Octopuses are curious and intelligent, as befits theirrole as hunters; probably the most “intelligent” ofinvertebrates and have been shown to have the abilityto learn from experience. It has been estimated thatthey are even smarter than dogs. To snatch quicksnacks, octopuses might climb aboard fishing boats andopen holds full of crabs.

The arm span of the largest octopus ever recorded was32 feet and weighed 300 pounds. Squid have botheight arms and two tentacles, which are additionalextra-long appendages used for capturing prey. Didyou know that: WOW! Squid have only two tentacles –all the rest are arms!

After mating, the female retires to her den and laystens of thousands of eggs, which she weaves one at atime into strings attached to the ceiling of her den. Sheis unable to leave her den to forage for food for aboutsix months, spending the whole time keeping the eggsclean by blowing water current over them. Whenhatching starts, she will continue to blow water

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currents across the eggs to help the babies breakfree. Sadly, the weakened mother octopus dies; thefather will have died within a few months of mating,leaving the thousands of newborn orphans to fend forthemselves.

If you would like to see a video of a giant octopus andhow big it really is, go to this link by the BBC on theinternet http://youtu.be/lwAqhThd_EQ By comparison,the Indonesian Mimic Octopus, (Thaumoctopusmimicus) which was only discovered in 1998, is able tocopy the physical likeness and movement of more thanfifteen different species. It can discern whichdangerous sea creature to impersonate to imitate thegreatest threat to its current possible predator and youcan see it in action here:http://youtu.be/H8oQBYw6xxc……..oooo0oooo…….

Mimic Octopus from Indonesia

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What’s Waiting for You on theWebsite!Personalised Stories for Children.Children love nothing more than hearing and seeing their ownnames in the stories, as you read with them. We writepersonalised stories for children in two key reading ages.

Reading age 6-8Vivid pictures, your child’s own name andphotograph, and the fun of learning makethese stories ideal for youngsters. Seeing andhearing their own name in the story raisestheir sense of self-esteem and confidence.These stories ideal for youngsters who arebeginning to read, or for those whose readingskills could use a little coaching. Lesley putsyour child IN the story.

Reading age 8-11Having adventures in a magic red helicopter is proven toappeal to kids of this age. With lots of full colour pictures,their own name through it and with their photo included,these stories instil a sense of being adaptable and capable.Whether alone or with a friend, it’s fun! They love it! Thesestories, printed in full colour, glossy, are lovely to hold and toread

LesleyDewar’swriting ishighly regarded for its unique style. She combinesgood science while engaging her young audiences,and is very readable. “Your writing is really super.I love the way you strike a balance betweenscientific writing and personal reminiscence. Ithink that would appeal to people of all ages.”Jane M

You order them on the website

http://storiesmynanatells.com

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By the same AuthorNetworking to a Plan

An Echidna for your Birthday, AngusScarlet Robin

Hey Dude! Who Moved My Gumnuts?Ulla Bird and the Pit Ponies

Jacob and the AlpacasBella Meets Splinter and his Friends

Tahj and the Dragon’s GoldBrooklyn and the Dancing Butterflies

Sofie and the Giant Crabs (Part One and Part Two)Grrk the Motorbike Frog

Caiden and the Beach Crabs

Introduction: An Echidna for your Birthday, Angus

Description: Angus is having a birthday adventure, looking for anEchidna. He meets many other critters, as well. It’s a delightful and easyintroduction to some of the different animals that live in the Australianbush. It has a bonus story about octopuses, too.

First published in 2012 by the author.© Copyright Vivian Lesley Dewar

This work is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, nopart may be reproduced by any process, nor may any other exclusive right be exercised,without the permission of Vivian Lesley Dewar of Unit 7, 35-37 Sholl Street, Mandurah,6210.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanicalmeans, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permissionfrom the author, except in the case of a reviewer, who may quote brief passagesembodied in critical articles or in a review.

Requests for further authorisation are to be directed to the author, Vivian Lesley Dewarvia email to support@storiesmynanatells.com or by mail to Unit 7, 35-37 Sholl Street,Mandurah, Western Australia, 6210. The author asserts her moral right and reserves allother rights.

This is a Stories My Nana Tells publication.ISBN 978-0-995-4271-4-3 (Paperback)ISBN 978-0-995-4271-9-8 (PDF)Publisher: Stories My Nana Tells (ABN 28 766 362 594)Author: Vivian Lesley Dewar

Printed in AustraliaPublishing date: 2016-November 11 (Paperback)Publishing date: 2012-July-04 (PDF)