Wombats
Wombats
Wombats on the Granite Belt? Yes these wonderful bumbling creatures do live in our very own backyard, albeit a bit more elusively than their southern counterparts.
The Granite Belt, or more specifically, Girraween National Park is the northern most boundary for the distribution of the Common Wombat (Vombatus ursinus = bear-like wombat).
Description
The Common Wombat has coarse, thick fur that can vary in colour from cream and brown through to black. They have a large head, short rounded ears and a hairless nose.
Habitat
The Common Wombat's habitat is varied, ranging from eucalypt forest and open woodland, to coastal scrub and heath. They are land animals, social in their behaviour, but feed alone. They sleep during the day in summer and are most active at dusk and through the night.
Food
Wombats are herbivores which means their food is of vegetative origin. Wombats leave their burrows at dusk to search for food which includes native grasses, sedges and rushes. They will also gnaw on the roots of trees and shrubs.
Lifespan
The Common Wombat will live up to 15 years.
Breeding
Common wombats breed all year round but only have one young per season.
Female wombats build separate nursery burrows where they give birth and raise their young.
Female wombats give birth just 30 days after mating. After birth, the bean-shaped baby wombat (weighing just 1 gram) makes it's way to the mothers backward facing pouch. The pouch faces backwards, because in a burrowing animal, the pouch would otherwise fill up with dirt. The baby finds a teat, latches on to it and stays there for the next 6 - 9months. Wombat babies are weaned when they are about a year old but will stay close to mum for almost another year.
Distribution
Download a Wombat Distribution Map.
Conservation Status
Common but protected
Threats
Threats to the survival of the Common Wombat include:
- predators such as foxes, dogs, dingos, feral and domestic cats
- man (shooting, trapping, poisoning)
- removal of habitat
- livestock (cattle, sheep) compete for food
- altered fire regimes
- limited populations on the Granite Belt
- limited knowledge about the wombat populations on the Granite Belt
Did you know ...
The wombat is the biggest burrowing herbivore in the world and uses it's hard head as a shield and battering ram.
Wombats have the most well developed brain of any marsupial.
Wombats will abandon their burrows if a snake moves in.
Granite Belt Wildlife Carers and Wombats
Wombats almost never come into care. This is largely because their populations are located away from major roads and people, and they are largely elusive animals rarely seen. There is, however, plenty of evidence of their existence.
Burrows
Wombats can dig up to 2 metres a night and their burrows can be up to 30 metres long with several tunnels and entrances. Signs of active habitation of a wombat burrow are:
- no cobwebs over the entrance
- fresh tracks
- disturbed soil and
- fresh scats (square shaped droppings).
The types of burrows wombats make here on the Granite Belt include:
- under rocks
- under logs and
- into the soil itself.
Wombat burrow under rocks Wombat burrow in the soil
Surveys
Surveys of known wombat burrows are undertaken annually by national park rangers and volunteers. These burrows are uniquely identified by a physical number and a GPS setting, then reviewed annually and any signs of activity recorded.
Wombat burrow Wombat scat
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