Wombats are short-legged, muscular quadrupedalmarsupials that are native to Australia. They are about 1 m (40 in) in length with small, stubby tails. There are three extant species and they are all members of the familyVombatidae. They are adaptable and habitat tolerant, and are found in forested, mountainous, and heathland areas of south-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..
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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, and leaving distinctive cubic feces.
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. ... Wombats' fur can vary from a sandy color to brown, or from grey to black. All three known extant species average around a metre in length and weigh between 20 and 35 kg (44 and 77 lb).
Female wombats give birth to a single young in the spring, after a gestation period, which like all marsupials can vary, in the case of the wombat: 20–21 days.[5][6] They 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.[7]
A group of wombats is known as a wisdom,[8][9] a mob, or a colony.[10]
Wombats typically live up to 15 years in the wild, but can live past 20 and even 30 years in captivity.[11][12] The longest-lived captive wombat lived to 34 years of age.[12]
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Wombats have an extraordinarily slow metabolism, taking around eight to 14 days to complete digestion, which aids their survival in arid conditions.[7] They generally move slowly.[citation needed] When threatened, however, they can reach up to 40 km/h (25 mph) and maintain that speed for up to 90 seconds.[13] Wombats defend home territories centred on their burrows, and they react aggressively to intruders.
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The name 'wombat' comes from the now nearly-extinct Darug language spoken by the aboriginal Darug people, who originally inhabited the Sydney area.[18] 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."[19] 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.[20]The spelling went through many variants over the years, including 'wambat', 'whombat', 'womat', 'wombach', and 'womback', possibly reflecting dialectal differences in the Darug language.[18]
Common wombat and joey eating from a bowl at a zoo
After the ship Sydney Cove ran aground on Clarke Island in February 1797, the crew of the salvage ship, Francis, discovered wombats on the island.[21] A live animal was taken back to Port Jackson.[21]Matthew Flinders, who was travelling on board the Francis on its third and final salvage trip, also decided to take a wombat specimen from the island to Port Jackson. Governor John Hunter later sent the animal's corpse to Joseph Banks at the Literary and Philosophical Society[22] to verify that it was a new species. The island was named Clarke Island after William Clark.[23][24]
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