Wombats, Wombat Pictures, Wombat Facts

A wombat on a reserve munches on carrots. Wombats in the wild prefer to feed on grasses, roots, and bark.

Photograph by Anne Keiser

Map

Common Wombat Range

Fast Facts

Type:: Mammal
Diet:: Herbivore
Size:: 28 to 47 in (71 to 119 cm)
Weight:: 32 to 80 lbs (15 to 36 kg)
Group name:: Mob or Colony
Size relative to a 6-ft (2-m) man:

This large, pudgy mammal is a marsupial, or pouched animal, found in Australia and on scattered islands nearby. Like other marsupials, wombats give birth to tiny, undeveloped young that crawl into pouches on their mothers' bellies. A wombat baby remains in its mother's pouch for about five months before emerging. Even after it leaves the pouch, the young animal will frequently crawl back in to nurse or to escape danger. By about seven months of age, a young wombat can care for itself.

Wombats use their claws to dig burrows in open grasslands and eucalyptus forests. They live in these burrows, which can become extensive tunnel-and-chamber complexes. Common wombats are solitary and inhabit their own burrows, while other species may be more social and live together in larger burrow groups called colonies.

Wombats are nocturnal and emerge to feed at night on grasses, roots, and bark. They have rodentlike incisors that never stop growing and are gnawed down on some of their tougher vegetarian fare.

The field and pasture damage caused by wombat burrowing can be a destructive nuisance to ranchers and farmers. Wombats have been hunted for this behavior, as well as for their fur and simply for sport. Some species (the northern hairy-nosed wombats) are now critically endangered, while others (the common or coarse-haired wombat) are still hunted as vermin. Space for all wombats is at a premium as farm and ranch lands increasingly replace natural space.

Mammal Videos

Other Marsupials

Mammal Features

Animal Conservation

Find out what National Geographic Society is doing to save animals all over the world, and learn what you can do to help.
Crittercam Helps Study Rare Species

The Hawaiian monk seal is one of the oldest species of seal on the planet. But their tenure in paradise is perilously close to its end; only about 1,100 seals remain in the wild.
Lions Quiz

The king of cats rules with a roar and a fierce bite. What else do you know about this top predator?
Cause an Uproar

Big cats are quickly disappearing. Now is the time to act. Cause an uproar to save big cats today.

Please select a test to run

On Nat Geo WILD

TV Schedule »

Animal News

Animals

Animal News

Special Ad Section

From the Magazine

Gannets Pictures

Champion divers but clumsy landers, doting parents but hostile neighbors—northern gannets abound in contradictions.
Estonia's Ural Owls

Photographer Sven Začek provides an intimate view of this large raptor.