Northern Hairy-Nosed Wombat

A Northern Hairy-Nosed Wombat is also known as or called a Yaminon. It is one of the three living species of Wombats. It was found and discovered across the areas of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland as recently as 100 years ago. But now, it's restricted to a 3 kilometer square range within the 30 kilometer square Epping Forest National Park in Queensland.

The Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat, is one of the rarest mammals in the world and is now considered to be criticallt endangered. It is slightly larger than the Common Wombat and able to breed faster in a way than the Common Wombat. They're able to produce 2 youngs every 3 years.

Their habitat has become infested with African Buffel Grass which out-competes the native grasses the Yaminon prefers to eat. To protect the Yaminons (Northern Hairy-nosed Wombats), a 2 meter high predator & intruder proof fence was constructed around 25 kilometer square feet of the park in 2000, though captive breeding and translocation programs have been abandoned for the time being because the population in the remaining Yaminon  colony is considered to be too small to allow safe removal of the 15 to 20 individual wombats needed to start a new wild colony and because more than a decade of captive breeding research with Common and Southern Hairy-Nosed wombats has produced only a handful of successful births.

A Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat is 35 cm in height and up to 1 meter long. They can weigh up to 40 kilograms. The female wombat specie of this kind are a little bit bigger than the males because they have an extra layer of fat. This specie of wombats are mainly found in Central Queensland. It's diet is composed of course grass and various types of roots.

They are nearly extinct because there are only 40-60 left in all Australia. Their noses are very important for their daily survival because they have very poor eyesight. They mainly rely on their sense of smell.

It takes about a whole day for a Yaminon to dig a burrow with their very sharp claws. They mainly live in dry, grassy regions of Australia. This kind of wombat uses it's burrow to control it's body temperature and as well as their surroundings. By staying in it's burrow during the day, the wombat keeps cool and conserves or saves water in the summer time and it stays warm during the winter time.

The name Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat comes from it's distinctive muzzle which is covered with short brown hairs. It's physique is string and heavily built with short, stubby but powerful legs and strong claws. It's fur is very soft, silky and mainly brown-mottled gray or fawn and black in color. It has a broad head with black patches around their eyes. Their ears are long and slightly pointed with tufts of white hair on the edges.

Northern Hairy-nosed Wombats sleep in their burrows the whole day. They are shy animal, that's why most of the time they are solitary and only go out during night time, but there are times and instances when they share burrows with other wombats.

This specie of wombats give birth to a young during the wet season which is around November to April. They're found in one place in the world, in the semi-arid woodland and grassland on sandy soil in Epping Forest National Park in Central Queensland. Because they are already critically endangered, a major recovery program is underway to help save this wombat specie. It is funded by the Queensland Government. It involves major research, management and maintenance programs and includes intensive studies of the wombat's genetic make-up, reproduction, behavior & habits and it's diet. The management aims to improve the quality and diversity of grasses available to wombats.