Wombat-Who??

Do you know what a Wombat is? After scratching your head for some time you’d probably say it is a small town in New South Wales. But hey, do you know that Wombat is actually a cute little furry creature found in Australia and the town is actually named after the animal! Wombats are Australian marsupials. Seemingly serene and gentle you might be tempted to pet them but beware they can get really aggressive at times as they are naturally wild in nature. I shall tell you more about Wombats, so read on.

What are Wombats?

Wombats are marsupials found mainly in forests, mountainous regions and heathlands of South-eastern Australia and Tasmania. About a meter in length, these are short-legged muscular quadrupeds with a short tail. They are the closest relatives of the koala and like them they have a backward opening pouch.

Marsupials are actually an infraclass of mammals that have a marsupium or pouch which may be transient or permanent. They bear a similarity to mammals in the sense that they have furry bodies and give birth to young ones that are suckled by the mother. However their gestation period is very short, about 12-14 days and thus they give birth to undeveloped young. The newborn, called joey, instinctively climbs out of the mother’s birth canal and crawls into the pouch and attaches itself to the mother’s teat. The joey remains inside the pouch during the entire lactation period which may vary from weeks to months. During this period the mother nurses the baby while the composition of her milk changes depending on the developmental stage of the young. Once the Joey matures they come out of the pouch.