Habitat loss and fragmentation pose significant challenges to wildlife, particularly in agricultural landscapes where natural habitats are heavily modified. This study investigated the shelter selection and activity patterns of short-beaked echidnas (Tachyglossus aculeatus) across a fragmented agricultural environment. Using GPS and VHF telemetry, we found that echidnas sheltered predominantly in woody habitats, using both natural and anthropogenic structures, but rarely sheltered in open paddocks despite foraging there. Shelter reuse was common and inversely related to core home-range size, suggesting deliberate reuse of known, high-quality sites. Echidnas rarely sheltered in open habitats, which prompted an experiment where we placed artificial shelters in open habitats to test whether echidnas would select novel artificial shelters if available. Echidnas demonstrated a clear preference for artificial shelters compared with the control group, suggesting that shelter availability drives echidna habitat selection. Activity patterns followed a consistent diel cycle, peaking approximately 8 pm and at moderate temperatures (~20°C), with a stronger link to time of day than to thermal cues. These findings reaffirmed the importance of preserving shelter-rich, woody habitats and suggests that targeted conservation measures, such as artificial shelters, could mitigate the ecological impacts of fragmentation and support biodiversity in human modified landscapes where the availability of shelter sites is limiting.
Badgery et al. (Fri,) studied this question.