Why make Knuckles female? That just doesn't make sense.
Also, if female-Knuckles is one of the last echidnas, why not knock her up so there's more of them? I never understand why the 'last remnants' of any race (in media, anyway) never seem to realise their females are the key to their race's survival; sure, it's not exactly nice for the women, making them baby factories, but when you're on the brink of extinction, that doesn't quite matter now, does it? No, instead the women are still allowed to explore and get into danger alongside the men, because turning what's left of the female sex into baby factories in order to keep the depleted species alive doesn't mesh well with modern cultural standards where we no longer face this same reality compared to medieval times.
I mean, that Walking Dead show that aired a while back - humans were dying and becoming zombies left and right. Why not lock all the fertile women - and fertile teenage girls, for that matter, since they can also conceive - in a fortress and restore the population? That plan of action makes logical sense when humanity's dying, and emotion has no place. Fire Emblem Awakening, too, for that matter - Lucina should've been trying to restore the human population, not risking her life, and her then-very valuable womb, in combat back in her timeline. Astral Chain - the female Akira shouldn't be a police officer if there's so few humans left; she should be pumping out babies to replenish the population count.
I just don't understand why almost no-one sees this; this has been a glaring issue in so many different TV shows, movies, books and games that I just can't help but notice.