Great mates

2 little Echidnas - one seen from front and one from the back.  They are very cute and can move quite fast.  Classified as monotremes (along with the platypus) they are the only known egg laying mammals.  The female lays their single leathery egg into a pouch on her body to keep it warm until it hatches at the size of jelly bean. The baby then spends 3 months in the pouch and a further 9 months in a burrow fed milk from their mother's mammary gland before emerging into the bushy environment outside the burrow.  Their long nose and even longer tongue allows them to access ant nests as a chief food source. I won't mention mating but as they are very spiny, it must be done very carefully I suspect!  These 2 are at Hunter Valley zoo.