The Wonderful Wombat

In this article I shall tell you about a small little furry creature called the Wombat which I discovered recently. Wombats are Australian marsupials belonging to the family Vombatidae. Kangaroos, koalas, possums, bandicoots are other marsupials that you may have heard of. Wombats are short creatures with sturdy bodies and strong limbs that facilitate digging of burrows. To know more about the feature possessed by these animals read on.

Characteristic traits of Wombats:

• Wombats are mainly crepuscular (active during twilight) and nocturnal animals .However they might come out of their burrows on cool or cloudy days.

• Wombats are herbivorous creatures and their diet comprises of grasses, herbs, roots, stems and barks .They have incisors that are mainly adapted to chew vegetation. Their strong teeth also help them in digging burrows.

• Like koalas Wombats also have a backward facing pouch that ensure no dirt enters it while they are busy digging their burrows.

• Wombats keep their undeveloped young that they produce after a gestation period of about 26-28 days in their pouch for about 6-7 months during which the mother nurses it. After the lactation period ends the weaning starts at about the 15^th month and they become sexually mature at about 18months from birth.

• Wombats have thick, soft fur whose color can vary from sandy to brown and grey to black.

• There are three known species of Wombats and most of them weigh between 20-30 kilograms and are about a meter in length.

Species of Wombats:

There are 3 species of Wombats .They are

• Common Wombat

• Northern hairy-nosed Wombat

• Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat