Short-beaked echidna
Short-beaked Echidnas feature in the animistic culture of Indigenous Australians, including their visual arts and stories. The species was a totem for some groups, including the Noongar people from Western Australia, who called the animal the Nyingarn. Many groups have myths about the animal; one myth explains that it was created when a group of hungry, young men went hunting at night and stumbled across a wombat. They threw spears at the wombat, but lost sight of it in the darkness. The wombat adapted the spears as its own defense and turned into an Echidna. Another story tells of a greedy man that kept food from his tribe; warriors speared him and he crawled away into the bushes, where he was turned into an Echidna, the spears becoming his spines.