WOMBAT

'Wombats' are Australian marsupials; they are short-legged, muscular quadrupeds, approximately one metre (3 feet) in length with a very short tail. The name ''wombat'' comes from the Eora Aboriginal community who were the original inhabitants of the Sydney area. Wombats dig extensive burrow systems with rodent-like front teeth and powerful claws. Although mainly crepuscular and nocturnal, wombats will also venture out to feed on cool or overcast days. They are not as commonly seen as many animals, but leave ample evidence of their passage, treating fences as a minor inconvenience to be gone through or under and leaving distinctive cubic scats. Wombats are herbivores, their diet consisting mostly of grasses, sedges, herbs, bark and roots. They are preyed on by the Tasmanian Devil. Their fur color can vary from a sandy color to brown, or from grey to black.

Contents

History

Ecology and behavior

Species

Wombats and humans

Further reading

References

External links

History

Wombats, like all the larger living marsupials, are part of the Diprotodontia. The ancestors of modern wombats evolved sometime between 55 and 26 million years ago (no useful fossil record has yet been found for this period) and about 12 species flourished until well into the ice ages. Among the several diprotodon (giant wombat) species was the largest marsupial to have ever lived. The earliest human inhabitants of Australia arrived while diprotodons were still common, and are believed to have brought about their extinction through hunting, habitat alteration, or both.

Ecology and behavior

Wombats have an extraordinarily slow metabolism, taking around 14 days to complete digestion, and generally move slowly. When required, however, they can reach up to 40 km/h and maintain that speed for up to 90 seconds.
When attacked, they can summon immense reserves of strength — one defense of a wombat against a predator (such as a Dingo) underground is to crush it against the roof of the tunnel until the wombat has caused the predator to cease breathing. Its primary defence is its toughened rear hide with most of the posterior made of cartilage which, combined with its lack of a meaningful tail, presents a difficult-to-bite target to any enemy who follows the wombat into its tunnel. One naturalist commented, that a predator biting into a wombat's rear would find it "comparable to the business end of a toilet brush".

Species

There are three species, all around a metre long and weighing between 20 and 35 kg (44 to 77 pounds):

★ Common Wombat (''Vombatus ursinus'')

★ Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat (''Lasiorhinus latifrons'')

★ Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat or Yaminon (''Lasiorhinus krefftii'')

Wombats and humans

They can be awkwardly tamed in a captive situation, and even coaxed to be patted and held. Many parks, zoos and other tourist set-ups across Australia have wombats for show to the public. Wombats are quite popular in the zoos in which they are present.
However, this lack of fear also means that they may display acts of aggression if provoked, or if they are simply in a bad mood. Its sheer weight makes a charging wombat capable of knocking an average-sized man over, and their sharp teeth and powerful jaws can result in severe wounds. The naturalist Harry Frauca once received a bite 2 cm deep into the flesh of his leg—through a rubber boot, trousers and thick woollen socks (Underhill, 1993). A young boy let into an enclosure unprotected to feed a wombat at a caravan park was charged, knocked over, and bitten and scratched all over. [1]

Further reading

★ ''The Death of a Wombat'', Ivan Smith, drawings by Clifton Pugh, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973, hardcover, 62 pages, ISBN 0-684-13538-8. A humble wombat meets a tragic end during a fire.

★ ''Wombats'', Barbara Triggs, Houghton Mifflin Australia Pty, 1990, ISBN 0-86770-114-5. Facts and photographs of wombats for children.

★ ''The Wombat: Common Wombats in Australia'', Barbara Triggs, University of New South Wales Press, 1996, ISBN 0-86840-263-X.

★ ''The Secret Life of Wombats'', James Woodford, Text Publishing, 2002, ISBN 1-877008-43-5.

References

★

External links

★ South Australian Government Faunal Emblem (official website)

★ Wombania's Wombat Information Index

★ Russell The Wombat's Burrow