Wombat Ranges
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Wombats are short-legged, muscular
quadruped Quadrupedalism is a form of locomotion in which animals have four legs that are used to bear weight and move around. An animal or machine that usually maintains a four-legged posture and moves using all four legs is said to be a quadruped (fr ...
al
marsupial Marsupials are a diverse group of mammals belonging to the infraclass Marsupialia. They are natively found in Australasia, Wallacea, and the Americas. One of marsupials' unique features is their reproductive strategy: the young are born in a r ...
s of the family Vombatidae that are native to
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
. Living species are about in length with small, stubby tails and weigh between . They are adaptable and habitat tolerant, and are found in forested, mountainous, and
heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...
land areas of southern and eastern Australia, including Tasmania, as well as an isolated patch of about in
Epping Forest National Park Epping Forest is a national park in Queensland, Australia, 855 km northwest of Brisbane. The park is a scientific national park so it is not open to the public. Only scientists, rangers and volunteers may visit the park. The park lies with ...
in central Queensland.


Etymology

The name "wombat" comes from the now nearly extinct
Dharug language The Dharug language, also spelt Darug, Dharuk, and other variants, and also known as the Sydney language, Gadigal language ( Sydney city area), is an Australian Aboriginal language of the Yuin–Kuric group that was traditionally spoken in th ...
spoken by the aboriginal
Dharug people The Dharug or Darug people, are a nation of Aboriginal Australian clans, who share ties of kinship, country and culture. In pre-colonial times, they lived as hunters in the region of current day Sydney. The Darug speak one of two dialects of ...
, who originally inhabited the Sydney area. It was first recorded in January 1798, when John Price and James Wilson, Europeans who had adopted aboriginal ways, visited the area of what is now
Bargo, New South Wales Bargo is a town in the Macarthur, New South Wales, Macarthur Region of Sydney, Greater Sydney in New South Wales, Australia, in the Wollondilly Shire. It is located approximately halfway between Campbelltown, New South Wales, Campbelltown and B ...
. Price wrote: "We saw several sorts of dung of different animals, one of which Wilson called a 'Whom-batt', which is an animal about high, with short legs and a thick body with a large head, round ears, and very small eyes; is very fat, and has much the appearance of a badger." Wombats were often called
badgers Badgers are medium-sized short-legged omnivores in the superfamily Musteloidea. Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united by their squat bodies and adaptions for fossorial activity rather than by their ...
by early settlers because of their size and habits. Because of this, localities such as
Badger Creek, Victoria Badger Creek is a suburb of Healesville in Victoria, Australia, 53 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district, located within the Shire of Yarra Ranges local government area. Badger Creek recorded a population of 1,610 at th ...
, and Badger Corner, Tasmania, were named after the wombat. The spelling went through many variants over the years, including "wambat", "whombat", "womat", "wombach", and "womback", possibly reflecting dialectal differences in the Darug language.


Evolution and taxonomy

Though genetic studies of the Vombatidae have been undertaken, evolution of the family is not well understood. Wombats are estimated to have diverged from other Australian marsupials relatively early, as long as 40 million years ago, while some estimates place divergence at around 25 million years. Some prehistoric wombat genera greatly exceeded modern wombats in size. The largest known wombat, ''
Phascolonus ''Phascolonus'' is an extinct genus of giant wombat known from the Pliocene and Pleistocene of Australia. There is only a single known species, ''Phascolonus gigas'', the largest wombat ever known to have existed, estimated to weigh as much as 20 ...
'', which went extinct approximately 40,000 years ago, is estimated to have had a body mass of up to .


Characteristics

Wombats dig extensive burrow systems with their rodent-like front teeth and powerful claws. One distinctive adaptation of wombats is their backward pouch. The advantage of a backward-facing pouch is that when digging, the wombat does not gather soil in its pouch over its young. Although mainly
crepuscular In zoology, a crepuscular animal is one that is active primarily during the twilight period, being matutinal (active during dawn), vespertine (biology), vespertine/vespertinal (active during dusk), or both. This is distinguished from diurnalit ...
and
nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...
, wombats may also venture out to feed on cool or overcast days. They are not commonly seen, but leave ample evidence of their passage, treating fences as minor inconveniences to be gone through or under. Wombats leave distinctive
cubic Cubic may refer to: Science and mathematics * Cube (algebra), "cubic" measurement * Cube, a three-dimensional solid object bounded by six square faces, facets or sides, with three meeting at each vertex ** Cubic crystal system, a crystal system w ...
faeces Feces (also known as faeces American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, or fæces; : faex) are the solid or semi-solid remains of food that was not digested in the small intestine, and has been broken down by bacteria in the ...
. As wombats arrange these feces to mark territories and attract mates, it is believed that the cubic shape makes them more stackable and less likely to roll, which gives this shape a biological advantage. The method by which the wombat produces them is not well understood, but it is believed that the wombat intestine stretches preferentially at the walls, with two flexible and two stiff areas around its intestines. The adult wombat produces between 80 and 100, pieces of feces in a single night, and four to eight pieces each bowel movement. In 2019 the production of cube-shaped wombat feces was the subject of the
Ig Nobel Prize The Ig Nobel Prize () is a satirical prize awarded annually since 1991 to promote public engagement with scientific research. Its aim is to "honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think." The name of the award is a ...
for Physics, won by Patricia Yang and David Hu. All wombat teeth lack roots and are ever-growing, like the incisors of rodents. Wombats are
herbivore A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet. These more broadly also encompass animals that eat ...
s; their
diets The Low Countries comprise the coastal Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta region in Western Europe, whose definition usually includes the modern countries of Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands and parts of Northern France. Both Belgium and the ...
consist mostly of
grasses Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in ...
,
sedges The Cyperaceae () are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large; botanists have described some 5,500 known species in about 90 generathe largest being the "true sedges" (genu ...
,
herbs Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnish (food), garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typi ...
,
bark Bark may refer to: Common meanings * Bark (botany), an outer layer of a woody plant such as a tree or stick * Bark (sound), a vocalization of some animals (which is commonly the dog) Arts and entertainment * ''Bark'' (Jefferson Airplane album), ...
, and
root In vascular plants, the roots are the plant organ, organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often bel ...
s. Their
incisor Incisors (from Latin ''incidere'', "to cut") are the front teeth present in most mammals. They are located in the premaxilla above and on the mandible below. Humans have a total of eight (two on each side, top and bottom). Opossums have 18, wher ...
teeth somewhat resemble those of
rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and Mandible, lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal specie ...
s (
rat Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include '' Neotoma'' (pack rats), '' Bandicota'' (bandicoo ...
s, mice, etc.), being adapted for gnawing tough vegetation. Like many other herbivorous mammals, they have a large
diastema A diastema (: diastemata, from Greek , 'space') is a space or gap between two teeth. Many species of mammals have diastemata as a normal feature, most commonly between the incisors and molars. More colloquially, the condition may be referred to ...
between their incisors and the cheek teeth, which are relatively simple. The
dental formula Dentition pertains to the development of teeth and their arrangement in the mouth. In particular, it is the characteristic arrangement, kind, and number of teeth in a given species at a given age. That is, the number, type, and morpho-physiology ...
of wombats is . Wombats' fur can vary from a sandy colour to brown, or from grey to black. All three known extant species average around in length and weigh between . Male wombats have
penile spines Many mammalian species have developed keratinized penile spines along the glans or shaft, which may be involved in sexual selection. These spines have been described as being simple, single-pointed structures (macaques) or complex with two or t ...
, a non-pendulous
scrotum In most terrestrial mammals, the scrotum (: scrotums or scrota; possibly from Latin ''scortum'', meaning "hide" or "skin") or scrotal sac is a part of the external male genitalia located at the base of the penis. It consists of a sac of skin ...
, and three pairs of
bulbourethral gland The bulbourethral glands or Cowper's glands (named for English anatomist William Cowper) are two small exocrine and accessory glands in the reproductive system of many male mammals. They are homologous to Bartholin's glands in females. The bul ...
s. The
testes A testicle or testis ( testes) is the gonad in all male bilaterians, including humans, and is homologous to the ovary in females. Its primary functions are the production of sperm and the secretion of androgens, primarily testosterone. The ...
,
prostate The prostate is an male accessory gland, accessory gland of the male reproductive system and a muscle-driven mechanical switch between urination and ejaculation. It is found in all male mammals. It differs between species anatomically, chemica ...
, and bulbourethral glands enlarge during the
breeding season Seasonal breeders are animal species that successfully mate only during certain times of the year. These times of year allow for the optimization of survival of young due to factors such as ambient temperature, food and water availability, and ch ...
. Female wombats give birth to a single young after a
gestation Gestation is the period of development during the carrying of an embryo, and later fetus, inside viviparous animals (the embryo develops within the parent). It is typical for mammals, but also occurs for some non-mammals. Mammals during pregn ...
period of roughly 20–30 days, which varies between species. All species have well-developed pouches, which the young leave after about six to seven months. Wombats are
weaned Weaning is the process of gradually introducing an infant human or other mammal to what will be its adult diet while withdrawing the supply of its mother's milk. In the UK, weaning primarily refers to the introduction of solid foods at 6 mont ...
after 15 months, and are sexually mature at 18 months. A group of wombats is known as a wisdom, a mob, or a colony. Wombats typically live up to 15 years in the wild, but can live past 20 and even 30 years in captivity. The longest-lived captive wombat lived to 34 years of age. In 2020, biologists discovered that wombats, like many other Australian marsupials, display bio-fluorescence under ultraviolet light. File:Animaldentition vombatusursinus.png, Dentition, as illustrated in Knight's ''Sketches in Natural History'' File:Wombatskelett brehm.png, Wombat skeleton File:Image_from_page_504_of_"Biology_of_the_vertebrates_-_a_comparative_study_of_man_and_his_animal_allies"_(1949)_(19763119883).jpg, Female reproductive tract


Ecology and behaviour

Wombats have an extraordinarily slow
metabolism Metabolism (, from ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run cellular processes; the co ...
, taking around 8 to 14 days to complete
digestion Digestion is the breakdown of large insoluble food compounds into small water-soluble components so that they can be absorbed into the blood plasma. In certain organisms, these smaller substances are absorbed through the small intestine into th ...
, which aids their survival in arid conditions. They generally move slowly. Wombats defend home territories centred on their burrows, and they react aggressively to intruders. The common wombat occupies a range of up to , while the hairy-nosed species have much smaller ranges, of no more than .
Dingo The dingo (either included in the species ''Canis familiaris'', or considered one of the following independent taxa: ''Canis familiaris dingo'', ''Canis dingo'', or ''Canis lupus dingo'') is an ancient (basal (phylogenetics), basal) lineage ...
s and
Tasmanian devil The Tasmanian devil (''Sarcophilus harrisii''; palawa kani: ''purinina'') is a carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae. It was formerly present across mainland Australia, but became extinct there around 3,500 years ago; it is now con ...
s prey on wombats. Extinct predators were likely to have included ''
Thylacoleo ''Thylacoleo'' ("pouch lion") is an extinct genus of carnivorous marsupials that lived in Australia from the late Pliocene to the Late Pleistocene (until around 40,000 years ago), often known as marsupial lions. They were the largest and last mem ...
'' and possibly the
thylacine The thylacine (; binomial name ''Thylacinus cynocephalus''), also commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger or Tasmanian wolf, was a carnivorous marsupial that was native to the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and the islands of Tasmani ...
(Tasmanian tiger). Their primary defence is their toughened rear hide, with most of the posterior made of
cartilage Cartilage is a resilient and smooth type of connective tissue. Semi-transparent and non-porous, it is usually covered by a tough and fibrous membrane called perichondrium. In tetrapods, it covers and protects the ends of long bones at the joints ...
. This, combined with its lack of a meaningful tail, makes it difficult for any predator that follows the wombat into its tunnel to bite and injure its target. When attacked, wombats dive into a nearby tunnel, using their rumps to block a pursuing attacker. According to an
urban legend Urban legend (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not. These legends can be e ...
, wombats sometimes allow an intruder to force its head over the wombat's back, and then use its powerful legs to crush the skull of the predator against the roof of the tunnel. However, there is no evidence to support this. Wombats are generally quiet animals. Bare-nosed wombats can make a number of different sounds, more than the hairy-nosed wombats. Wombats tend to be more vocal during mating season. When angered, they can make hissing sounds. Their call sounds somewhat like a pig's squeal. They can also make grunting noises, a low growl, a hoarse cough, and a clicking noise.


Species

The three
extant Extant or Least-concern species, least concern is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to: * Extant hereditary titles * Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English * Exta ...
species of wombat are all
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
to Australia and a few offshore islands. They are protected under Australian law. *
Common wombat The common wombat (''Vombatus ursinus''), also known as the bare-nosed wombat, is a marsupial, one of three extant species of wombats and the only one in the genus ''Vombatus''. It has three subspecies: ''Vombatus ursinus hirsutus'', found on the ...
(''Vombatus ursinus''), which has three
subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
: ** ''Vombatus ursinus hirsutus'', found on the
Australian mainland Mainland Australia is the main landmass of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, excluding the Aru Islands Regency, Aru Islands, New Guinea, Tasmania, and other list of islands of Australia, Australian offshore islands. The landmass ...
** ''Vombatus ursinus tasmaniensis'', found in
Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
** ''Vombatus ursinus ursinus'', found on
Flinders Island Flinders Island, the largest island in the Furneaux Group, is a island in the Bass Strait, northeast of the island of Tasmania. Today Flinders Island is part of the state of Tasmania, Australia. It is from Cape Portland, Tasmania, Cape Portl ...
in the
Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The ...
and
Maria Island Maria Island or wukaluwikiwayna in palawa kani is a mountainous island located in the Tasman Sea, off the east coast of Tasmania, Australia. The island is entirely occupied by the Maria Island National Park, which includes a marine area of o ...
in the
Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, who in 1642 wa ...
. *
Northern hairy-nosed wombat The northern hairy-nosed wombat (''Lasiorhinus krefftii'') or yaminon is one of three extant species of Australian marsupials known as wombats. It is one of the rarest land mammals in the world and is critically endangered. Its historical range ...
or ''yaminon'' (''Lasiorhinus krefftii''), which is
critically endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...
*
Southern hairy-nosed wombat The southern hairy-nosed wombat (''Lasiorhinus latifrons'') is one of three extant species of wombats. It is found in scattered areas of semiarid scrub and mallee from the eastern Nullarbor Plain to the New South Wales border area. It is the s ...
(''Lasiorhinus latifrons''), the smallest of the three species


Human relations


History

Depictions of the animals in
rock art In archaeology, rock arts are human-made markings placed on natural surfaces, typically vertical stone surfaces. A high proportion of surviving historic and prehistoric rock art is found in caves or partly enclosed rock shelters; this type al ...
are exceptionally rare, though examples estimated to be up to 4,000 years old have been discovered in
Wollemi National Park The Wollemi National Park () is a protected national park and wilderness area that is located in the Central West and Hunter region of New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The park, the second largest national park in New South Wales, conta ...
. The wombat is depicted in aboriginal
Dreamtime The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology, Australian Aboriginal mythology. It was originally u ...
as an animal of little worth. The mainland stories tell of the wombat as originating from a person named Warreen whose head had been flattened by a stone and tail amputated as punishment for selfishness. In contrast, the Tasmanian aboriginal story first recorded in 1830 tells of the wombat (known as the ''drogedy'' or ''publedina'') the great spirit Moihernee had asked hunters to leave alone. In both cases, the wombat is regarded as having been banished to its burrowing habitat. Estimates of wombat distribution prior to European settlement are that numbers of all three surviving species were prolific and that they covered a range more than ten times greater than that of today. After the ship ''Sydney Cove'' ran aground on Clarke Island in February 1797, the crew of the salvage ship ''
Francis Francis may refer to: People and characters *Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church (2013–2025) *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Francis (surname) * Francis, a character played by YouTuber Boogie2 ...
'' discovered wombats on the island. A live animal was taken back to
Port Jackson Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta ...
.
Matthew Flinders Captain (Royal Navy), Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a British Royal Navy officer, navigator and cartographer who led the first littoral zone, inshore circumnavigate, circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then ...
, who was travelling on board the ''Francis'' on its third and final salvage trip, also decided to take a wombat specimen from the island to Port Jackson. Governor John Hunter later sent the animal's corpse to
Joseph Banks Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English Natural history, naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the European and American voyages of scientific exploration, 1766 natural-history ...
at the
Literary and Philosophical Society The Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne (or the ''Lit & Phil'' as it is popularly known) is a historical library in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, and the largest Subscription library, independent library outside London. The ...
to verify that it was a new species. The island was named Clarke Island after William Clark.Nash, M.
Maritime Archaeology Monograph and Reports Series No.2 – Investigation of a Survivors Camp from the Sydney Cove Shipwreck
." Master of Maritime Archaeology Thesis. Department of Archaeology, Flinders University, South Australia. 2004. Accessed 30 December 2009.
Wombats were classified as vermin in 1906, and a bounty was introduced in 1925. This and the removal of a substantial amount of habitat have greatly reduced their numbers and range.


Attacks on humans

In addition to being bitten, humans can receive puncture wounds from wombat claws. Startled wombats can also charge humans and bowl them over, with the attendant risks of broken bones from the fall. One naturalist, Harry Frauca, once received a bite deep into the flesh of his leg—through a rubber boot, trousers and thick woollen socks. A UK newspaper, ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', reported that on 6 April 2010, a 59-year-old man from rural Victoria state was mauled by a wombat (thought to have been angered by
mange Mange () is a type of skin disease caused by parasitic mites. Because various species of mites also infect plants, birds and reptiles, the term "mange", or colloquially "the mange", suggesting poor condition of the skin and fur due to the infecti ...
), causing a number of cuts and bite marks requiring hospital treatment. He resorted to killing it with an axe.


Cultural significance

Some farmers consider common wombats to be a nuisance due primarily to their burrowing behaviour. "
Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat was an unofficial mascot of the 2000 Summer Olympics created by Sydney cartoonist Paul Newell with Roy and HG from the Australian Channel Seven sports comedy television program '' The Dream with Roy and HG''. Fatso is ...
" was the tongue-in-cheek "unofficial" mascot of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Since 2005, an unofficial holiday called Wombat Day has been observed on 22 October. Wombat meat has been a source of bush food from the arrival of Aboriginal Australians to the arrival of Europeans. Due to the protection of the species, wombat meat as food is no longer part of mainstream Australian cuisine, but wombat stew was once one of the few truly Australian dishes. In the 20th century, the more easily found rabbit meat was more commonly used. (Rabbits are now considered an invasive pest in Australia.) The name of the dish is also used by a popular children's book and musical. Wombats have featured in Australian postage stamps and coins. The hairy-nosed wombats have featured mainly to highlight their elevated conservation status. The northern hairy-nosed wombat featured on an Australian 1974 20-cent stamp and also an Australian 1981 five-cent stamp. The common wombat has appeared on a 1987 37-cent stamp and an Australian 1996 95-cent stamp. The 2006 Australian Bush Babies stamp series features an AU$1.75-stamp of a baby common wombat, and the 2010 Rescue to Release series features a 60-cent stamp of a common wombat being treated by a veterinarian. Wombats are rarely seen on circulated Australian coins, an exception is a 50-cent coin which also shows a
koala The koala (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), sometimes inaccurately called the koala bear, is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only Extant taxon, extant representative of the Family (biology), family ''Phascolar ...
and
lorikeet Loriini is a tribe of small to medium-sized arboreal parrots characterized by their specialized brush-tipped tongues for feeding on nectar of various blossoms and soft fruits, preferably berries. The species form a monophyletic group within the p ...
. The common wombat appeared on a 2005 commemorative $1 coin and the northern hairy-nosed wombat on a 1998 Australia Silver Proof $10 coin. Many places in Australia have been named after the wombat, including a large number of places where they are now locally extinct in the wild. References to the locally extinct common wombat can be found in parts of the Central Highlands of Victoria, for example the
Wombat State Forest The Wombat State Forest (locally: Bullarook) is located west of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, between Woodend, Victoria, Woodend and Daylesford, Victoria, Daylesford, at the Great Dividing Range. The forest is approximat ...
and Wombat Hill in Daylesford. Other significant places named after the wombat includes the town of
Wombat, New South Wales Wombat is a town in South West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia. It is situated on the Olympic Highway, south-west of the regional centre of Young. It is in the local government area of Hilltops Council. History The area was occupied ...
and the suburb of
Quoiba, Tasmania Quoiba is a rural residential locality in the local government area (LGA) of Devonport in the North-west and west LGA region of Tasmania, about south of the town of Devonport. The 2021 census recorded a population of 427 for the state suburb ...
. Numerous less significant Australian places, including hotels, are named after the animals. Prominent sculptures of wombats include in South Australia: "The Big Wombat" at Scotdesco Aboriginal Community (Tjilkaba) and Wudinna visitor information centre,
Adelaide Zoo Adelaide Zoo is a zoo in Adelaide, Australia. It is the country's second oldest zoo (after Melbourne Zoo) opening in 1883, and is operated on a non-profit basis. It is located in the Adelaide Parklands, parklands just north of the Adelaide cit ...
and Norwood; New South Wales:
Wombat, New South Wales Wombat is a town in South West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia. It is situated on the Olympic Highway, south-west of the regional centre of Young. It is in the local government area of Hilltops Council. History The area was occupied ...
; Victoria: Daylesford,
Trentham, Victoria Trentham is a town in the Shire of Hepburn and Shire of Moorabool Local government in Australia, local government area of West Central Victoria, Australia, Victoria, Australia. At the , Trentham had a population of 1180, with a median age of 55 y ...
and Kinglake; Tasmania:
Steppes State Reserve In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without closed forests except near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the tropical and subtropical gr ...
. Wombats have also been a feature of Australian television. While wombats are not generally kept as pets, a notable depiction of a common wombat as a pet is Fatso from the Australian television show ''
A Country Practice ''A Country Practice'' is an Australian television soap opera/serial which was broadcast on the Seven Network from 18 November 1981 until 22 November 1993, and subsequently on Network Ten from 13 April 1994 to 5 November 1994. Altogether, 14 ...
''. The Brisbane television show ''
Wombat Wombats are short-legged, muscular quadrupedal marsupials of the family Vombatidae that are native to Australia. Living species are about in length with small, stubby tails and weigh between . They are adaptable and habitat tolerant, and are ...
'' was also named for the animals. Australian literature contains many references to the wombat. Examples are Mr. Walter Wombat from the adventures of ''
Blinky Bill Blinky Bill is an anthropomorphic koala and children's fictional character created by author and illustrator Dorothy Wall. The character of Blinky first appeared in Brooke Nicholls' 1933 book, ''Jacko – the Broadcasting Kookaburra'', which ...
'' and one of the main antagonists in ''
The Magic Pudding ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...
'' by
Norman Lindsay Norman Alfred William Lindsay (22 February 1879 – 21 November 1969) was an Australian artist, etcher, sculptor, writer, art critic, novelist, cartoonist and amateur boxing, boxer. One of the most prolific and popular Australian artists of hi ...
. File:Fatso at Olympic Park.jpg, Side view of "
Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat was an unofficial mascot of the 2000 Summer Olympics created by Sydney cartoonist Paul Newell with Roy and HG from the Australian Channel Seven sports comedy television program '' The Dream with Roy and HG''. Fatso is ...
", an unofficial mascot for the
2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...
as he appeared on top of a pole outside Sydney's
Stadium Australia Stadium Australia, currently known as Accor Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the suburb of Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The stadium, which is sometimes referred to as Sydney Ol ...
File:Wombat sculpture. Wombat hill daylesford.jpg, Wombat sculpture, Wombat Hill Botanic Gardens, Daylesford, Victoria File:Wombat sculpture at Wombat, NSW.jpg, Wombat sculpture, Wombat, New South Wales, unveiled April 2002


Conservation

All species of wombats are protected in every Australian state. The
northern hairy-nosed wombat The northern hairy-nosed wombat (''Lasiorhinus krefftii'') or yaminon is one of three extant species of Australian marsupials known as wombats. It is one of the rarest land mammals in the world and is critically endangered. Its historical range ...
is a
critically endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...
species under Queensland's ''
Nature Conservation Act 1992 The ''Nature Conservation Act 1992'' is an act of the Parliament of Queensland, Australia, that, together with subordinate legislation, provides for the legislative protection of Queensland's threatened biota. As originally published, it prov ...
'', the Commonwealth ''
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 The ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and cult ...
'', and on the
International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...
's
Red List of Threatened Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological spe ...
. The biggest threats the species faces are its small population size, predation by wild dogs, competition for food because of
overgrazing Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods. It can be caused by either livestock in poorly managed agricultural applications, game reserves, or nature ...
by cattle and sheep, and disease. The only known wild populations of this species exist in two locations in
Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
, the Epping Forest National Park, and a smaller colony being established by translocating wombats to the Richard Underwood Nature Refuge at Yarran Downs. This second colony is being created through the Xstrata reintroduction project, which is being funded by
Xstrata Xstrata plc was an Anglo-Swiss Multinational corporation, multinational mining company headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It was a major producer of coal (and the world's largest exporter o ...
, a Swiss global mining company. From a low of just 35 wombats across the state when surveyed in the 1980s, the population had increased to a total of around 315 by May 2021. Despite its name, the common wombat is no longer as common as it once was, and is under significant threat. However, in eastern Victoria, they are not protected, and they are considered by some to be pests, especially due to the damage they cause to rabbit-proof fences. Opportunistic research studies have been conducted on the immune system of common wombats, which could be used as a tool for future conservation efforts. WomSAT, a citizen science project, was established in 2016 to record sightings of wombats across the country. The website and mobile phone app can be used to log sightings of live or deceased wombats and wombat burrows. Since its establishment the project has recorded over 23,000 sightings across New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. More recently, the citizen science project has published findings on wombat roadkill and sarcoptic mange incidence across Australia.


References


Further reading

* Will Cuppy, ''How to Attract the Wombat'', with illustrations by Ed Nofziger, David R. Godiine, 2002, (Originally published 1949, Rhinehart). * Jackie French, ''The Secret World of Wombats'', with illustrations by Bruce Whatley, Harper Collins Publishers, 2005, . * Jackie French, ''Christmas Wombat'', with illustrations by Bruce Whatley, Clarion Books, 2012, . * Barbara Triggs, ''Wombats'', Houghton Mifflin Australia Pty, 1990, . Facts and photographs of wombats for children. * Barbara Triggs, ''The Wombat: Common Wombats in Australia'', University of New South Wales Press, 1996, . * James Woodford, ''The Secret Life of Wombats'', Text Publishing, 2002, .


External links


South Australian Government Faunal Emblem
(official website)
Rossetti's Wombat: A Pre-Raphaelite Obsession in Victorian England
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The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...
''
Secret sex life of wombat

Video of the most long-lived known captive wombat, Patrick

Video of Christmas Wombat

We need to have a conversation about wombats
(''
The Oatmeal ''The Oatmeal'' is a webcomic and humor website created in 2009 by cartoonist Matthew Inman. It offers original comics, quizzes, and occasional articles. Inman has produced a series of ''Oatmeal'' books with content from the webcomic and previou ...
'') {{Authority control Endemic fauna of Australia Extant Miocene first appearances Marsupials of Australia Taxa named by Gilbert Thomas Burnett Vombatiforms