Wombat

Vombatus ursinus

DOWN THE BURROW

Burrows are often built on sloping ground to avoid flooding. A major burrow can be up to 20 or 30 metres long, with a network of tunnels and a number of entrances. Wombats spend the majority of the day deep in the burrow in a resting chamber, which is usually lined with bark or leaves. In the late afternoon they move closer to the entrance, dozing there until dusk when they set out foraging.  They can cover distances of 1-2 kilometres in a night and visit up to four burrows in their home range, to rest or tidy the burrows. In the early morning they return to one of the burrows to sleep through the day.

WHY A BURROW?

Because burrowing requires the exertion of a lot of energy most large burrowers, such as the Aardvark of Africa, live on a high energy and protein rich insect diet. Wombats are actually the largest herbivores-plant eating- burrowers on the planet.

So what benefits does living in a burrow bring? In bigger burrows the extreme temperature fluctuations that may occur outside, are reduced. This enables wombats to spend a cool comfortable day sleeping, when it is sweltering hot or freezing outside. Burrows also tend to retain more moisture in the air, which is important for survival in arid places.

Wombat

GET OUT OF MY SPACE

In the wild, wombats seem to guard a personal space of about 3 metres. If another wombat approaches any closer, they will first exchange aggressive chikker chikker sounds and rasping churrings. If the wombat does not back off or cannot be chased away, a ritual of hostile gestures  will follow. The wombats stand or sit with their front feet wide apart, and their body humped to appear larger. Swinging their head from side to side in a feigned biting action, they grind their teeth and their whole body shivers. This is usually enough to get the intruder to retreat.  Few of these encounters actually seem to result ln physical contact, but scars on the forehead, ears and muzzle of some wombats bear testament that sometimes they do.