Why are hairy nosed wombats hairy?

Answer 1

The Northern Hairy Nosed Wombat is listed as endangeredin Australia and critically endangered by IUCN. It is one of the world's rarest mammals and certainly one of Australia's rarest marsupial (possibly second only to Gibert's Potoroo).

There is only one single known population left in existence: a population of approximately 100 individuals with only 25 breeding females. This population is situated in Epping Forest in central western Queensland. The Epping Forest National Park was proclaimed in 1971 to protect this last population of Northern hairy-nosed wombats, where they seem to be making a slow recovery. After some dingo predation and the drought of the 1990s, the current population is estimated to be about 110.

The northern hairy-nosed wombat became endangered through a combination of competition for food with introduced European cattle, sheep and rabbits, and the habitat alteration that resulted from these European farming practices.

Apart from the intrusion of people into their environment, this species of wombat is endangered due to drought, which has decimated the wombat's food supply, predation by dingoes, human interference and hunting, habitat loss, and competition from introduced cattle, sheep and rabbits for food and shelter. The greatest current threat is that there is only one known population in existence.