Wombats - Charlotte Bennett

Wombats!

What are furry, fat and are marsupials? Its a Wombat! Wombats are short legged, native to Australia and surrounding islands.

Most wombats are very muscular this helps to protect them from predators. They are around 1 meter long, the longest Wombat recorded was 2 meters long. With size they also have a weight of 25-35 kg, powerful claws, pointy ears, stubby tails and long

rodent like teeth that never stop growing. They also have a backwards pouch (so when they dig their babies don't suffocate). Although they have tiny eyes they only have short eyesight.

These fat marsupials are all herbivores. They mostly eats grasses, sages, herbs, bark and roots; to digest this they swallow stones. On some occasions they eat bugs. Their long teeth help gnaw through tough roots.

Wombats live in Australia or surrounding Islands. Some marsupials like the Wombat like to live in burrows (long connected tunnels). The most preferable place for a Wombat is open grasslands and Eucalyptus forests so they can have a snack whenever they want. They are mostly found in North and South Australia.

These animals are mostly nocturnal but some are active during the day too. Wombats are very destructive of crops. Some Wombats are solitary although they have been found in colonies. They are also the biggest burrowing mammal in the world. If a predator tries to attack a Wombat in its burrow the Wombat will crush the predator against the sides of its burrow with its bony back.

Although 2 species of Wombats are still hunted as pests the Northern Hairy Nosed Wombat is critically endangered. There are

less than 200 of them in the world. One of the main reasons there are so few of them is because they only have one baby at a time. The baby is smaller than a jelly bean and stays in the mothers pouch for 6 months and then with the mother for another 11 months.

Fat, short legged marsupials, the Wombat is still around, but they are dying out very fast.