Wombats

Like many native Australian marsupials, wombats do not need to drink water as long as the conditions are good, and there is no drought. As long as they have access to fresh grass and sedges, they are able to obtain their moisture needs from the food they eat. They are able to conserve the moisture they take in, and do not readily lose it. When the vegetation starts to dry up, they will obtain water wherever they can smell it - from creeks and rivers, billabongs and even people's backyards.

Common wombat current distribution is now between the Great Dividing Range and the coast from Stanthorpe in Queensland and right around almost to Adelaide and all of Tasmania. Prior to European settlement, the habitat would have been very much the same, but the population more dense and less patchy than currently. Northern hairy-nosed wombat current distribution is now almost exclusively in and around the Epping Forest National park near Clermont in Queensland. Prior to European settlement, the habitat would have extended down from Clermont through central NSW and into Victoria. Southern hairy-nosed wombat current distribution is along the southern areas of South and Western Australia, mostly along the Nullabor Plain and as far east as Murraylands, and away from population centres. Prior to European settlement, the habitat would have been very much the same, but the population more dense and less patchy than currently.

The gestation period of a wombat is 30 days resulting in a single, bean-sized, 1 gram offspring. The joey is blind and crawls from the birth canal, following the smell of its mother's milk into the backwards facing pouch. For the next 7-8 months, the joey is completely dependent on its mother, even for warmth since it cannot control its own body temperature. The joey leaves the pouch permanently at about 10 months, but stays with its mother for a further 5-10 months.

A wombat is a kind of Australian marsupial that lives in a burrow. They emerge at night or on winter days to feed on grasses and roots. Wombats do not need to drink, and their metabolism is very slow which equips them well for desert life. They grow to around a meter in length. There are three main species: the common Wombat of the east coast, the Southern Hairy-Nosed Wombat of the central southern desert and the Northern Hairy-Nosed Wombat, which is critically endangered.

Wombats are thick set and muscular creatures but can run quite fast for their stocky build. When vehicles hit them, it can cause a serious accident. A wombat's pouch faces backward so dirt does not enter it in the process of digging its burrow. See the Related Link for a picture of a wombat.

No. Wombats definitely do not live in trees. Thay cannot climb.

Wombats dig burrows in which to live. Burrows average about 50 cm high by 50 cm wide, just enough width for the wombat and nothing else. This is because, if threatened, a wombat can present just its padded backside to a predator, and the predator has no way of grabbing hold of the wombat or penetrating its thickened hide.

The Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat, or Yaminon's, habitat is semi-arid open woodland almost exclusively in and around the Epping Forest National park near Clermont in Queensland. Because this animal is critically endangered, much careful research went into seeking a suitable site to relocate some of the animals, and a small colony has now been established near Charleville in western Queensland.

Common Wombat habitat is eucalypt forest, open woodland, coastal scrub and heath in southeastern Australia.

Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat habitat is eucalypt and acacia woodland, shrubland and heath in parts of southern South Australia, southeastern Western Australia and western Victoria.

Wombats dig burrows for shelter.

Wombat

Dingo

Platypus

Emu

Blue tongue Lizard

Echidna

Koala

I recall it being red?

You can bring food into the zoo but you cannot feed it to the animals. If you have to eat a special diet they will let you bring in food, especially for a baby. My mother used to eat her lunch there several times a week (she had the lifetime pass). There is a restaurant there and food stands. The food at the good restaurant is really good. The small cafe food is nominal.

Wombats have few natural predators. The wombat's main predator is the dingo, but introduced species like dogs, cats and foxes can also hunt them for food. Young wombats which are still vulnerable and only just emerging from the pouch may be taken by birds of prey such as wedge-tailed eagles.

In Tasmania, Australia's southern state, Tasmanian devils will prey on smaller wombats, and they have been known to feed off the carcass of a wombat.

Aborigines also hunted wombats for food.

Yes, a dingo [Canis lupus dingo] would eat a cactus if need be. Dingoes indeed are known to nibble on fruits and plants. But a cactus would be low on the dingo's list of preferred foods. A dingo favors medium to large sized mammals.

On average they are about a meter in length ( the Common Wombat is slightly larger than the hairy nosed species.)

Wombats do not have webbed feet. their feet are equipped with strong claws for digging, but they have no need of webbing.

No. The Giant Wombat, better known as the Diprotodon, preferred more open country. Fossil evidence indicates that it inhabited semi-arid plains, savannahs and open woodlands. Fossils have not been located in hilly terrain or in forested coastal regions, or in areas at were once rainforests.

NORTHERN HAIRY NOSE, SOUTHERN HAIRY NOSE, COMMON

If wombats moved to other places, they would come into contact with placental mammals, which would eat all of the food that the wombat might eat, and perhaps eat the wombat, thus making it die out.

amazingly, it has been around for 50 million years. if you would like to check go to :

http//:a-z-animals.com/animals/wombat/

no wombats are Australian ONLY

no wombats are Australian ONLY

• Both creatures are endemic to Australia, but the wombat is found in parts of the southeastern mainland, while the Tasmanian devil has, from the time of European settlement, only ever been known in Tasmania.
• The wombat is herbivorous, while the Tasmanian devil is carnivorous, feeding on live prey, and scavenging carrion.
• Wombats burrow for shelter, while Tasmanian devils do not, simply hiding in undergrowth, caves or logs.
• Tasmanian devils emit an unearthly, piercing, frightening shriek when making territorial claims over food and mates. Wombats merely grunt.
• For defence, Tasmanian devils have sharp claws and teeth, and can emit a foul smell rather like the skunk does. Wombats burrow with their thick, reinforced rear end facing the entrance to the burrow which is quite a tight fit. Prey can rarely penetrate their thick hide, and they have no tail by which they can be pulled out.
• There is just one type of Tasmanian devil. There are three species of wombats: the common wombat, the Northern hairy-nosed wombat, and the Southern hairy-nosed wombat.
• Tasmanian devils are being afflicted with a terrible cancer known as Devil Facial Tumour Disease and which, unless a cure is soon found, could see the extinction of wild Tasmanian devils. There is no such disease affecting wombats.
• The closest relative to the wombat is the koala. The Tasmanian devil is a dasyurid, or carnivorous marsupial, so its closest living relatives are other dasyurids, such as quolls.

Technically it was founded in 1873 but opened to the public in 1875

they are only harmful to humans if you attack their home and try to eat them.

Yes. Wombats are solitary creatures, living alone in burrows they dig. While many wombats will live in proximity to each other, in wombat colonies, they do not depend on each other like some animal family groups do.