It seems there has been a spike in the number of echidna sightings in and around Nyngan. So far there have been almost 15 sightings of echidnas near Nyngan in the past year, notably by the NSW Police force who found themselves in a prickly situation, having to escort one from the main highway. Researchers from Adelaide University are using the public to build a profile of Echidna populations all over Australia, and PhD student Tahlia Perry is urging residents in the Bogan Shire to use the free Echidna CSI app to log the sightings. Since launching in September 2017 the app has been downloaded over 6000 times, and has had about 5500 sightings. "[Echidnas] are really difficult animals to actually study out in the wild, but we know by talking to people that people seem to see them quite regularly, so we wanted to be able to capture that data across the whole of Australia," Ms Perry said. The app allows users to take a photo of the unique monotremes, using a GPS location and date and time stamp, which then records it for the researchers, who are based in Adelaide. The other part of the project also asks people to pick up and send the animal's scat to the laboratory in Adelaide. READ ALSO: "So through [collecting scats], because we are actually a generics lab, I'm looking at the DNA and the hormones we can find in these scats, so it's been a very interesting project to run and I didn't think I would be a poo expect," she said. Ms Perry said since launching the project they have received over 300 scat samples. Naturally, Ms Perry said they are receiving more sightings around human populated areas, however is hoping by having more conversations they can spread the word into more rural areas. "We're trying to get into more rural areas and get the word out more so people can keep an eye out for them in those areas because we know they probably live out there as well," she said. "But getting more into Central Australia it's getting more and more difficult, because there's less and less people out there. "So that's something we're trying to push harder on, to try and get into those more unusual spots to see what the echidna populations are doing out there." Ms Perry said their team have been surprised by the number of sightings in capital cities. "We're unusually seeing them pop up in the middle of really busy cities like Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne, which is probably not the best thing for them and that's something we were definitely not anticipating seeing," she said. "So now we're going to start having some conversations with, especially here in Adelaide, the local councils and land management groups, about creating more green spaces in the middle of the cities." For more information visit the Echidna CSI Facebook page. The app, Echidna CSI, can be found on the App Store and on Google Play.
We're going on a scat hunt: citizen science helps tell the echidna story
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PRICKLY WORK: Adelaide researchers have created an app for the public to help them track sightings of echidnas. Photo: CECILIA WEBSTER/ ECHIDNA CSI
PRICKLY WORK: The NSW Police Force found them in a prickly situation near Nyngan, escorting this echinda off the main highway. Photo: NSW Police
POO PATROL: The project is also asking people to pick up Echidna scat and send it to their lab to be DNA tested.
Photo: KELLIE POWNALL
Photo: PHILLIP DUBBIN
It seems there has been a spike in the number of echidna sightings in and around Nyngan.
So far there have been almost 15 sightings of echidnas near Nyngan in the past year, notably by the NSW Police force who found themselves in a prickly situation, having to escort one from the main highway.
Researchers from Adelaide University are using the public to build a profile of Echidna populations all over Australia, and PhD student Tahlia Perry is urging residents in the Bogan Shire to use the free Echidna CSI app to log the sightings.
PRICKLY WORK: The NSW Police Force found them in a prickly situation near Nyngan, escorting this echinda off the main highway. Photo: NSW Police FACEBOOK
Since launching in September 2017 the app has been downloaded over 6000 times, and has had about 5500 sightings.
"[Echidnas] are really difficult animals to actually study out in the wild, but we know by talking to people that people seem to see them quitRead More – Source
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