We all know Schrödinger's cat, right? It's a neat thought experiment (and one of the best analogies for quantum physics) but the situation always felt a bit forced to me. When are you really going to find a cat in a box with a radioactive substance and a flask of poison?
So here's a more realistic version of the quantum analogy, one, in fact, that's currently playing out in nature. Let me introduce you to Schrödinger's echidna.
In the Cyclops mountains of New Guinea, there once lived, and perhaps still lives, a species of long-beaked echidna: Zaglossus attenboroughi. It's one of just several monotremes, or egg-laying mammals left on the planet, and Sir David's echidna might be one of just a few of its kind still around (if, of course, they still are).
