Wombat

Quick Take

• Wombats look like easy prey, but their secret defense mechanism is stranger than you'd expect. Discover their defense →
• Some wombats can survive for months without ever taking a single drink of water. Here's how. See how they hydrate →
• A wombat joey is born barely the size of a jelly bean, and what happens next is remarkable. Follow the joey's journey →
• One species of wombat is clinging to survival with fewer individuals than a small village, and it is not the species most people have heard of. Check the survival numbers →

Wombats are chunky little vegetarian animals that are native to Australia. They are marsupials, which means that they carry their babies in a pouch after they are born. Wombats are excellent diggers and create tunnels and burrows to live in.

Their digestive systems are so slow that it can take them anywhere from a few days to over two weeks to digest their food. Although wombats look like easy targets, they have tough backsides that they can use to block predators from eating them.

5 Wombat Facts

• Wombats live in underground burrows that they dig themselves.
• Wombat babies love to play and will spend a lot of time and energy having fun.
• Some wombats can go weeks, or even months, without ever drinking any water.
• Australians celebrate Wombat Day every October 22 in honor of these animals.
• Young wombats live in their mother’s pouches for about seven to nine months.

Evolution and Origins

Wombats are marsupials native to Australia and are believed to have originated as long as 40 million years ago, with a fossil record stretching back at least 25 million years. Fossil evidence suggests that early wombats were similar in size to modern-day Tasmanian devils, and over time they evolved into the larger, slower-moving wombats we see today.

Wombats belong to the family Vombatidae and are one of only a few species of marsupials that have a squat, robust body shape and strong digging abilities. They are well adapted to their environment and use their powerful claws to dig burrows and escape from predators.

Throughout history, wombats have been hunted for their fur and meat, and as a result, some species have become endangered. Conservation efforts are underway to protect these animals and ensure their survival in the wild.

Today, wombats are a beloved and iconic part of Australian wildlife, known for their curious and playful personalities. Their unique physical characteristics and behavior have captured the attention of scientists and the public alike, making them an important part of our understanding of the evolution of marsupials.

Classification and Scientific Name

The word ‘wombat’ comes from the Australian Aboriginal name for these animals, either ‘vomat’ or ‘wombac’, which became ‘wombat’ in English. Three species of wombats live in Australia and Tasmania. These are the common wombat, the Northern hairy-nosed wombat, and the Southern hairy-nosed wombat.

The scientific name for the common wombat is Vombatus ursinus. The word ‘Vombatus’ is derived from the Aboriginal Dharug word for wombat, and ‘ursinus’ means bear-like in Latin. The northern hairy-nosed wombat is Lasiorhinus krefftii, and the southern hairy-nosed wombat is Lasiorhinus latifrons. ‘Lasio’ means hairy, and ‘rhinus’ means nose, used to describe these wombats with hair on their noses. ‘Krefftii’ is based on Gerard Krefft, who was the Curator and Secretary of the Australian Museum for 13 years, from 1861 to 1874. The term ‘latifrons’ means broad-chested or broad-fronted.

Appearance and Behavior

Wombats have a heavy, sturdy appearance, looking something like small, gray, tan, or brown bears. They have short, dense fur that is long enough to provide them with some protection but short enough not to get filled with weeds and dirt. Their triangular ears stick up from their heads, and they have little stubby tails.

These animals have short, powerful legs that have big, heavy claws on them that wombats can use for digging. They are marsupials, so the females have pouches in which they raise their babies, but their pouches face backward, towards their tails, so the babies don’t get pelted with dirt as their mothers dig tunnels and holes.

Wombats are 33 to 45 inches (840 to 1,150 mm) long and weigh anywhere from 44 to 86 pounds (20 to 39 kg). That’s about the same weight as a full-grown Labrador retriever, but on short legs that make a wombat stand no higher than an adult person’s knees. The biggest wombat ever recorded weighed around 88 pounds (40 kg), about the same weight as a newborn calf. He lived at Ballarat Wildlife Park in Australia and was known as ‘Patrick.’

Common wombats normally live alone in individual burrows. Hairy-nosed wombats may share a large burrow with others of their kind. These burrows can be nearly 100 feet (30 m) long, with as many as 20 entrances. A group of wombats is called a mob or a colony.

Typically shy, wombats are nocturnal. Humans may live in the same area and yet never see a wombat, as these animals tend to hide from danger. Despite their shyness, they can get very aggressive in some situations, especially around breeding time when they will bite and scratch each other. Real fighting is rare, however, and typically the wombat that loses a fight will leave rather than fight until it is injured. Because of this, wombats are not considered good pets.

Wombats have a thick layer of cartilage covering their rear ends. If a predator tries to attack a wombat, it will head into its burrow, leaving only its rear for the predator to attack. The attacking animal is usually unable to bite through this tough cartilage, so the wombat escapes danger. The wombat may also use its rear legs to kick at the predator, often injuring it with the heavy back claws.

Wombat Habitat

Wombats live only in Australia or Tasmania. The common wombat’s range is limited to sections of southeastern Australia along the coast, plus Tasmania and Flinders Island, while hairy-nosed wombat species are found in other parts of Australia, including South Australia and Queensland. They used to cover more territory, but conflicts with humans plus environmental struggles have caused their numbers and their territory to shrink. Wombats can be found living in open areas both in the mountains and on flat lands, as long as there is sufficient open space for them to dig their burrows.

The nocturnal wombats sleep in their burrows during the day, coming out at night to feed. Because they are nocturnal, wombats are seldom seen by humans. Their burrows are troublesome for ranchers as they can cause injury to livestock, and so ranchers who discover wombats on their land may try to get rid of them.

Diet

Wombats are vegetarians that eat most of the different plants that grow in their territories. This includes spear grass, snow tussocks, herbs, grasses, trees, shrubs, fungi such as mushrooms, bark, bushes, moss, marsh plants, and leaves. They prefer tender young plants, but they’ll eat almost anything when they find it, including vegetables grown by humans. If there’s a drought, wombats will dig down amongst the grasses to reach the roots to eat.

Wombats need less food than other animals of the same size because they have a very slow metabolism. This means they don’t have to spend as much time foraging for food, allowing them to conserve energy. They have also developed the ability to spend as much as two weeks digesting their food, giving their bodies time to extract as many nutrients as possible from the foods they eat.

Because they live in a very dry climate, hairy-nosed wombats are adapted to going for long periods without the need to drink water. They satisfy most of their water needs with the water they get from plants and from lapping up the dew. Common wombats will seek out water to drink. All wombats enjoy drinking after it rains and will seek out puddles and pools.

Predators and Threats

Wombats are hunted by several different predators, including dingoes, foxes, and Tasmanian devils. Young wombats are also preyed upon by eagles and owls. In many areas, dogs kill wombats. Humans are one of the greatest threats to wombats, since many people view wombats as pests or varmints and will hunt, trap, and poison them to get rid of them. While the wombats are protected throughout most of their territory now, areas remain where they are routinely killed by people.

Other animals also compete with wombats for the few resources available in the areas in which they live. Rabbits, sheep, and cattle are all animals that were introduced by humans and are now driving wombats out of their natural territories. Not only do they eat the same foods, but rabbits will move into wombat burrows if they can, and cattle destroy the burrows if they step on them.

Starvation kills many wombats, especially in dry years. Another serious threat to wombats is the presence of roads. Wombats are routinely killed by cars at night since they can be hard to spot in the dark. Hundreds are killed each year, both adults and babies.

The common wombat is listed as an animal of least concern (LC) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), meaning that at this point there is no concern about them becoming extinct. The Southern hairy-nosed wombat is also listed as being of least concern. The Northern hairy-nosed wombat, however, is considered to be critically endangered, with only about 80 of them surviving in the wild.

Reproduction, Babies, and Lifespan

Wombats are usually mature and able to have babies by two years of age. They don’t have a specific breeding season. When a female is ready to breed, she will scatter her poop cubes around the area where she lives. These cubes have pheromones on them that signal that she is ready for any males in the area. The pair will come together for breeding, but then they will separate, and the mother will raise the baby, called a joey, by herself.

The wombat is a marsupial, which means that the females have pouches they carry their babies in once they are born. Gestation time is 20 to 22 days and typically produces only a single joey. When the baby is born, it is tiny, helpless, blind, and about the size of a jelly bean. It cannot survive on its own. After birth, the joey makes its way to its mother’s pouch and climbs inside, where it will remain for up to six months. At this time, it is ready to emerge and begins to explore the world, but it will climb back in the pouch for safety or comfort and will stay with its mother for as much as another year.

It is common for wombats to live anywhere from 5 to 20 years in the wild, though wombats in captivity have been known to get as much as 30 years old. Frequently, wild wombats fall victim to predators, disease, starvation, or they are hit by cars when trying to cross the road at night.

Population

The number of wombats living in the wild is unknown. Common wombats are considered plentiful, but there are no current estimates of how many of them there are. The species is listed as being of least concern, meaning their numbers seem to be sufficient to sustain them.

Estimates for the number of Southern hairy-nosed wombats suggest their population to be somewhere between 100,000 and 300,000. These are also listed as being the species of least concern. The number of Northern hairy-nosed wombats is better known, as they live in a very tiny patch of wilderness in Southeastern Australia. Due to conservation efforts, this species is stable, but there are still about 80 of them at this time, and they continue to be considered critically endangered.