Wombat

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For other uses, see Wombat (disambiguation).
Wombat[1]
Temporal range: Late Oligocene – Recent
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Vombatus ursinus -Maria Island National Park.jpg
Common wombat
Maria Island, Tasmania
Scientific classificatione
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Diprotodontia
Superfamily: Vombatoidea
Family: Vombatidae
Burnett, 1830
Type genus
Vombatus
Geoffroy, 1803
Genera and species
Vombatus
Vombatus ursinus
†Vombatus hacketti
Lasiorhinus
Lasiorhinus latifrons
Lasiorhinus krefftii
†Rhizophascolonus
†Nimbavombatus
†Phascolonus
†Warendja
†Ramasayia
†Sedophascolomys
Wombats are short-legged, muscular quadrupedal marsupials that are native to Australia. They are
about 1 m (40 in) in length with small, stubby tails and weigh between 20 and 35 kg (44 and 77 lb). All
three of the extant species are members of the family Vombatidae. They are adaptable and habitat
tolerant, and are found in forested, mountainous, and heathland areas of southern and eastern
Australia, including Tasmania, as well as an isolated patch of about 300 ha (740 acres) in Epping Forest
National Park[2] in central Queensland.

Contents
1 Etymology
2 Evolution and taxonomy
3 Characteristics
4 Ecology and behaviour
5 Species
6 Human relations
6.1 History
6.2 Attacks on humans
6.3 Cultural significance
6.4 Conservation
7 References
7.1 Further reading
8 External links
Etymology
The name "wombat" comes from the now-nearly extinct Dharug language spoken by the aboriginal
Dharug people, who originally inhabited the Sydney area.[3] It was first recorded in January 1798,
when John Price and James Wilson, a white man who had adopted aboriginal ways, visited the area of
what is now Bargo, New South Wales. Price wrote: "We saw several sorts of dung of different animals,
one of which Wilson called a "Whom-batt", which is an animal about 20 inches 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."[4] Wombats were often called badgers by early settlers because of their size
and habits. Because of this, localities such as Badger Creek, Victoria, and Badger Corner, Tasmania,
were named after the wombat.[5] The spelling went through many variants over the years, including
"wambat", "whombat", "womat", "wombach", and "womback", possibly reflecting dialectal
differences in the Darug language.[3]

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.[6]: 10–  While some theories place wombats as miniaturised relatives of diprotodonts, such as
the rhinoceros-sized Diprotodon, more recent studies place the Vombatiformes as having a distinct
parallel evolution, hence their current classification as a separate family.[7]

Characteristics

Wombat in Narawntapu National Park, Tasmania

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 and nocturnal, 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 feces.[8] 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.[9] The adult wombat produces between 80
and 100, 2 cm (0.8 in) pieces of feces in a single night, and four to eight pieces each bowel movement.
[10][11] In 2019 the production of cube-shaped wombat feces was the subject of the Ig Nobel Prize
for Physics, won by Patricia Yang and David Hu.[12]

Wombat cubic scat, found near Cradle Mountain in Tasmania

Wombats are herbivores; their diets consist mostly of grasses, sedges, herbs, bark, and roots. Their
incisor teeth somewhat resemble those of rodents (rats, mice, etc.), being adapted for gnawing tough
vegetation. Like many other herbivorous mammals, they have a large diastema between their incisors
and the cheek teeth, which are relatively simple. The dental formula of wombats is
1.0.1.4
1.0.1.4
 × 2 = 24.

Wombats' fur can vary from a sandy colour to brown, or from grey to black. All three known extant
species average around 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) in length and weigh between 20 and 35 kg (44 and 77 lb).

Female wombats give birth to a single young after a gestation period of roughly 20–30 days, which
varies between species.[13][14] All species have well-developed pouches, which the young leave after
about six to seven months. Wombats are weaned after 15 months, and are sexually mature at 18
months.[15]
A group of wombats is known as a wisdom,[16][17] a mob, or a colony.[18]

Wombats typically live up to 15 years in the wild, but can live past 20 and even 30 years in captivity.
[19][20] The longest-lived captive wombat lived to 34 years of age.[20]

In 2020, biologists discovered that wombats, like many other Australian marsupials, display bio-
fluorescence under ultraviolet light.[21][22][23]

Ecology and behaviour

Dentition, as illustrated in Knight's Sketches in Natural History

Wombat burrow and scat, Narawntapu National Park, Tasmania

Wombats have an extraordinarily slow metabolism, taking around 8 to 14 days to complete digestion,
which aids their survival in arid conditions.[15] They generally move slowly.[24] When threatened,
however, they can reach up to 40 km/h (25 mph) and maintain that speed for 150 metres (490 ft).[25]
Wombats defend home territories centred on their burrows, and they react aggressively to intruders.
The common wombat occupies a range of up to 23 ha (57 acres), while the hairy-nosed species have
much smaller ranges, of no more than 4 ha (10 acres).[15]

Dingos and Tasmanian devils prey on wombats. Extinct predators were likely to have included
Thylacoleo and possibly the thylacine (Tasmanian tiger). Their primary defence is their toughened rear
hide, with most of the posterior made of cartilage. 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.
[26] A wombat may 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, or drive it off with two-
legged kicks, like those of a donkey.

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.[27]

Species
The three extant species of wombat[1] all are endemic to Australia and a few offshore islands. They
are protected under Australian law.[25]

Common wombat (Vombatus ursinus)

Northern hairy-nosed wombat or yaminon (Lasiorhinus krefftii)[28]
Southern hairy-nosed wombat (Lasiorhinus latifrons)