Wombat

In this episode of the I Can't Sleep Podcast, fall asleep learning about the endangered Wombat from Australia. The wombat has a long history but don't worry, it's not that exciting. You'll drift off in no time. Happy sleeping!

Transcript

Welcome to the I Can't Sleep podcast,

Where I read random articles from across the web to bore you to sleep with my soothing voice.

I'm your host,

Benjamin Boster.

Today's episode is from a Wikipedia article titled Wombat.

Wombats are short-legged,

Muscular quadrupedal marsupials that are native to Australia.

They are about one meter in length,

With small stubby tails,

And weigh between 20 and 35 kilograms.

All three of the extant species are members of the family Wombatidae.

They are adaptable and habitat-tolerant,

And are found in forested,

Mountainous,

And heathland areas of southern and eastern Australia,

Including Tasmania,

As well as an isolated patch of about 300 hectares in Epping Forest National Park in central Queensland.

Evolution and taxonomy Though generic studies of the Wombatidae have been undertaken,

Evolution of the family is not well understood.

Wombats are estimated to have diverged from other Australian marsupials relatively early,

As long as 40 million years ago,

While some theories place Wombats as miniaturized relatives of Deprotodons,

Such as the rhinoceros-sized Deprotodon.

Their recent studies place the Wombatae forms as having a distinct parallel evolution,

Hence their current classification as a separate family.

Characteristics 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.

Wombats leave distinctive cubic feces.

As Wombats arrange these feces to mark territories and attract mates,

It is believed that the cubic shape makes them more stackable and less likely to roll,

Which gives this shape a biological advantage.

The method by which the Wombat produces them is not well understood,

But it is believed that the Wombat intestine stretches preferentially at the walls,

With two flexible and two stiff areas around its intestines.

The adult Wombat produces between 80 and 100 2 cm pieces of feces in a single night,

And 4 to 8 pieces each bowel movement.

In 2019,

The production of cube-shaped Wombat feces was the subject of the IG Nobel Prize for Physics,

Won by Patricia Yang and David Hu.

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.

Like many other herbivorous mammals,

They have a large diastema between their incisors and the cheek teeth,

Which are relatively simple.

The dental formula of Wombats is 1.

0.

1.

41.

0.

1.

4 x 2 equals 24.

Wombats fur can vary from a sandy color to brown,

Or from gray to black.

All three known extant species average around 1 meter in length and weigh between 20 and 35 kg.

Female Wombats give birth to a single young after a gestation period of roughly 20 to 30 days,

Which varies between species.

All species have well-developed pouches,

Which the young leave after about 6 to 7 months.

Wombats are weaned after 15 months and are sexually mature at 18 months.

A group of Wombats is known as a wisdom,

A mob,

Or a colony.

Wombats typically live up to 15 years in the wild,

But can live past 20 and even 30 years in captivity.

The longest-lived captive Wombat lived to 34 years of age.

In 2020,

Biologists discovered that Wombats,

Like many other Australian marsupials,

Display biofluorescence under ultraviolet light.

Ecology and Behavior Wombats have an extraordinarily slow metabolism,

Taking around 8 to 14 days to complete digestion,

Which aids their survival in arid conditions.

They generally move slowly.

When threatened,

However,

They can reach up to 40 km an hour and maintain that speed for 150 meters.

Wombats defend home territories centered on their burrows,

And they react aggressively to intruders.

Common Wombat occupies a range of up to 23 hectacres,

While the hairy-nosed species have much smaller ranges of no more than 4 hectacres.

Dingoes and Tasmanian devils prey on Wombats.

Extinct predators were likely to have included Thylacalia and possibly the Thylacine.

Their primary defense is their toughened rear hide,

The most of the posterior mate of cartilage.

This combined with its lack of meaningful tail makes it difficult for any predator that follows the Wombat into its tunnel to bite and injure its target.

When attacked,

Wombats dive into a nearby tunnel,

Using their rumps to block a pursuing attacker.

A Wombat may allow an intruder to force its head over the Wombat's back,

And then use its powerful legs to crush the skull of the predator against the roof of the tunnel,

Or drive it off with two-legged kicks like those of a donkey.

Wombats are generally quiet animals.

Bare-nosed Wombats can make a number of different sounds,

More than the hairy-nosed Wombats.

Wombats tend to be more vocal during mating season.

When angered,

They can make hissing sounds.

Their call sounds somewhat like a pig squeal.

They can also make grunting noises,

A low growl,

A hoarse cough,

And a clicking noise.

Species The three extant species of Wombat are all endemic to Australia and a few offshore islands.

They are protected under Australian law.

Common Wombat Northern Hairy-Nosed Wombat Southern Hairy-Nosed Wombat Human Relations History Depictions of the animals in rock art are exceptionally rare,

Though examples estimated to be up to 4,

000 years old have been discovered in Wallamy National Park.

The Wombat is depicted in Aboriginal Dreamtime as an animal of little worth.

The mainland stories tell of the Wombat as originating from a person named Warin whose head had been flattened by a stone and tail amputated as punishment for selfishness.

In contrast,

The Tasmanian Aboriginal story first recorded in 1830 tells of the Wombat known as the Dragedy or Pupladna,

The great spirit Moherney had asked hunters to leave alone.

In both cases,

The Wombat is regarded as having been banished to its burrowing habitat.

Estimates of Wombat distribution prior to European settlement are that numbers of all three surviving species were prolific and that they covered a range more than ten times greater than that of today.

The name Wombat comes from the now nearly extinct Darug language spoken by the Aboriginal Darug people who originally inhabited the Sydney area.

It was first recorded in January 1798 when John Prince and James Wilson,

A white man who had adopted Aboriginal ways,

Visited the area of what is now Bargo,

New South Wales.

Prince wrote,

We saw several sorts of dung of different animals,

One of which Wilson called a Wombat,

Which is an animal about twenty inches high with short legs and a thick body with a large head,

Round ears and very small eyes.

Wombat is very fat and has much the appearance of a badger.

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.

The spelling went through many variants over the years including Wambat,

Huambat,

Wommat,

Huambach and Wombak,

Possibly reflecting dialectical differences in the Darug language.

After the ship Sydney Cove ran aground on Clark Island in February 1797,

The crew of the salvage ship Francis discovered Wombats on the island.

A live animal was taken back to Port Jackson.

Matthew Flinders,

Who was traveling 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 to verify that it was a new species.

The island was named Clark Island after William Clark.

Wombats were classified as vermin in 1906 and were subject to the introduction of a bounty in 1925.

This and the removal of a substantial amount of habitat have greatly reduced numbers and range of the Wombat.

Attacks on Humans Humans can receive puncture wounds from Wombat claws as well as bites.

Old Wombats can also charge humans and pull them over,

With the attendant risks of broken bones from the fall.

One naturalist Harry Frauca once received a bite two centimeters deep into the flesh of his leg through a rubber boot,

Trousers,

And thick woolen socks.

A UK newspaper,

The Independent,

Reported that on the 6th of April 2010 a 59-year-old man from rural Victoria State was mauled by a Wombat,

Though to have been angered by a mange,

Causing a number of cuts and bite marks requiring hospital treatment.

Cultural Significance Common Wombats are considered by some farmers as a nuisance due primarily to their burrowing behavior.

Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat was the tongue-in-cheek unofficial mascot of the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Since 2005 an unofficial holiday called Wombat Day has been observed on 22nd of October.

Wombat meat has been a source of bush food from the arrival of Aboriginal Australians to the arrival of Europeans.

Due to the protection of the species,

Wombat meat as food is no longer part of the main stream Australian cuisine,

But Wombat stew was once of the few truly Australian dishes.

In the 20th century the more easily found rabbit meat was more commonly used.

Rabbits are now considered an invasive pest in Australia.

The name of the dish is also used by a popular children's book and musical.

Wombats have featured in Australian postage stamps and coins.

The hairy-nosed Wombats have featured mainly to highlight their elevated conservation status.

The Northern Hairy-Nosed Wombat featured on an Australian 1974 20 cent stamp and also an Australian 1981 5 cent stamp.

The Common Wombat has appeared on a 1987 37 stamp and an Australian 1996 95 cent stamp.

The 2006 Australian Bush Baby stamp series features an Australian $1.

75 stamp of a baby Common Wombat.

The 2010 Rescue to Release series features a 60 cent stamp of a Common Wombat being treated by the veterinarian.

Wombats are rarely seen on circulated Australian coins.

An exception is a 50 cent coin which also shows a koala and a lorikeet.

The Common Wombat appeared on a 2005 commemorative $1 coin and the Northern Hairy-Nosed Wombat on the 1998 Australia Silver Proof $10 coin.

Many places in Australia have been named after the Wombat,

Including a large number of places where they are now locally extinct in the wild.

References to the locally extinct Common Wombat can be found in parts of the central highlands of Victoria.

For example,

The Wombat State Forest and Wombat Hill in Dalesford.

Other significant places named after the Wombat includes the town of Wombat,

New South Wales.

Numerous less significant Australian places,

Including hotels,

Are named after the animals.

Prominent sculptures of Wombats include in South Australia the Big Wombat at Scott Desko Aboriginal Community and Wodina Visitor Information Centre,

Adelaide Zoo and Norwood,

New South Wales,

Wombat New South Wales,

Victoria,

Dalesford,

Trintham,

Victoria and King Lake,

Tasmania,

Steps State Reserve.

Wombats have also been a feature of Australian television.

While Wombats are not generally kept as pets,

A notable depiction of a Common Wombat as a pet is Fatso from the Australian television show A Country Practice.

The Brisbane television show Wombat was also named for the animals.

Australian literature contains many references to the Wombat.

Examples are Mr.

Walter Wombat from The Adventures of Blinky Bill and one of the main antagonists in The Magic Pudding by Norman Lindsay.

Conservation All species of Wombats are protected in every Australian state.

The Northern Hairy-Nosed Wombat is an endangered species.

The biggest threats the species faces are its small population size,

Predation by wild dogs,

Competition for food because of overgrazing by cattle and sheep,

And disease.

The only known wild populations of this species exist in two locations in Queensland,

The Epping Forest National Park and a smaller colony being established by translocating Wombats to the Richard Underwood Nature Refuge at Yarn Downs.

This second colony is being created through the Extrada Reintroduction Project,

Which is being funded by the Extrada,

A Swiss global mining company.

The Wombat population in the Epping Forest National Park has been increasing since a predator-proof fence was erected in the park.

According to the latest census taken in 2013,

The park is home to 196 of these endangered Wombats,

With numbers at the two locations expected to have increased to 230 by late 2015.

Despite its name,

The common Wombat is no longer common,

And it has been officially a protected animal in New South Wales since 1970.

However,

In eastern Victoria they are not protected,

And they are considered by some to be pests,

Especially due to the damage they cause to rabbit-proof fences.

WOMSAT,

A citizen science project,

Was established in 2016 to record sightings of Wombats across the country.

The website and mobile phone app can be used to log sightings of live or deceased Wombats and Wombat burrows.

Since its establishment,

The project has recorded over 7,

000 sightings across New South Wales,

Victoria,

Tasmania,

And South Australia.

Reviews

As an Australian this was far too interesting for me to fall asleep unlike so many of the other tracks I have listened to. Some were obviously so boring that I can’t remember anything about them but others like this one, the one on jellyfish and horses I listened to the end. 😀

This one was actually pretty fascinating. I'd heard of wombats but apparently knew even less than I thought I did. Despite this, however, Benjamin's soothing voice had both my kiddo and myself dozing off before too long.

I didn't realise how massive wombats are! Great reading. Thanks 🙏

Square poops!

Wombats.....seriously? 😴

Loved hearing about our wombats 🇦🇺, hmmm I missed out on the end though. Thanks Benjamin.

Quite interesting!

Excellent as always! You have such a soothing voice, and yes, that was a little boring. 😆