Sunday 22 July 2018

Common Wombat

Being able to see Common Wombats (Vombatus ursinus) on a daily basis in one of the real pleasures of going to Wilsons Promontory National Park.

Although generally nocturnal, in the winter they can often been found out and about in the daylight.  I have been told that these animals are the largest hole dwelling herbivores in the world - and I have no reason to doubt this claim.  These rather solid animals grow to almost 1m long and weigh over 25 kg.  They are also surprisingly fast over short distances.  This species of Wombat is only found in the SE corner of Australia.  There are two other species of wombat in Australia - and in the near future I hope to see some of those as well!

The log climber rather took me by surprise, and I though he was going to head butt me at one stage, but he jumped off the other side of the log and went on his way.









Wombats are the only marsupial whose teeth grow through their life: this is an adaptation to the coarse grass that is important in their diets.  As you can see from the last few pictures, when in feeding mode it really is case of nose 'down and keep chewing' for these animals!

You can find more pictures from around the world at Our World Tuesday.  SM

PS: I think I may have fixed the email from blogger issue - thanks for the advice!

17 comments:

  1. Australian marsupials hold a special charm for visitors from other parts of the world.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great photos!
    Have a wonderful week!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love these photos. We saw wombats in Sydney. They were huge!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hari OM
    ...and in that last shot, it almost looks like a koala, such is the angle of the head. They really are delightful critters. YAM xx

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kinda cute..sorta Koala looking..Sweet? Great pictures Stewart..

    ReplyDelete
  6. Always been fascinated by Australian wildlife and your photos are excellent.

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a cute face! Thanks for sharing photos of this unusual animal.

    ReplyDelete
  8. That animal is almost too cute to be real! Hate to gush, but it is really adorable. Typepad (my blog platform) has now apparently decided (as of this week)to stop giving me comments via email. And here I was feeling so lucky.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I imagine a wombat in your garden could cause immense damage, nonetheless that is one adorable animal! My mom has always had a 'thing' about wombats from the time she was a young girl. She now has a small collection of children's books about wombats - just because!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Very cute, I have only seen them in Wildlife parks around Sydney. Keep well Diane

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wombats are such cute animals, looks like this one is very curious! Amazing photos, really enjoyed seeing these pictures. Hope you had a wonderful weekend, thanks for the share! Keep up the posts!
    World of Animals

    ReplyDelete
  12. Never seen a Wombat but boy are they cute.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Your wombats are some of my favorite critters in the world! Absolutely love it when you post pictures of them. They look like cuddly teddy bears! Great series of shots.

    ReplyDelete