🚀 go-pugleaf

<wombat@fancier.net> wrote in message news:m06102801552390@4ax.com...
> Can someone tell me whether Wombats live only in Australia,
> or also on other continents?
>
> Apart from zoos, of course.
>
> We all know that Wombats are to be found in Zoos.
>
> 29
>
>
> -- 
> Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
>

The wombat {wahm'-bat} is a heavyset, burrowing, herbivorous animal that is 
native to the eastern half of Australia and to the island of Tasmania south 
of Australia.
Wombats are thick-bodied animals that have short, powerful legs with strong 
claws used for burrowing. They range in length from 70 to 120 cm (27-47 in) 
and weigh up to 35 kg (77 lb). Their heads are relatively large but they 
have very small tails and small eyes and short ears. Wombats are grayish 
brown. The common wombat is coarse haired with a naked nose and rounded 
ears. The two species of hairy-nosed wombats have soft fur and a hairy 
muzzle and pointed ears that are slightly longer than those of the common 
wombat.

The wombat, like many famous Australian animals is a marsupial. The female 
has a pouch but, unlike a kangaroo, this pouch opens rearward. This helps 
prevent dirt from entering the pouch as the wombat digs.



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Species of Wombats:
Wombats are classified as follows:

  Kingdom: Animal
  Phylum: Chordata (back boned)
  Class: Mammalia (mammals)
  Order: Marsupialia (marsupials)
  Family: Vombatidae (wombats)
Currently there are three recoginized living species of wombat in two genera 
(Vombatus and Lasiorhinus):

  Vombatus ursinis - the Common Wombat
  Lasiorhinus latifrons - the Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat
  Lasiorhinus krefftii - the Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat (also called the 
Queensland Hairy-nosed Wombat)

Both genera of wombats are in the family Vombatidae. Formerly the family was 
called Phascolomyidae but this has generally been replaced with the new name 
of Vombatidae.


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Related Animals
The wombat and koala are the animals must closely related to each other (the 
koala also has a pouch that opens posteriorly). Do not confuse wombats with 
numbats (Myrmecobius fasciatus), another Australian marsupial. Neither 
wombats nor numbats are bats.



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Homes
Wombats' have large and numerous burrows and colonies have even been 
observed from space. Many ranchers consider the burrows to be a hazard to 
domestic range animals and exterminate the wombats.



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Food
The wombats' main food supply is native grasses. Also included in their diet 
are sedges, matrushes and the roots of shrubs and trees. Wombats mainly 
forage at night.



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Range, Habitat and Population
In general, you can say that wombats live in the eastern half of Australia 
and on the island of Tasmania south of Australia. A more detailed 
description of their ranges follows:


  a.. Common Wombats live in forest areas between northern New South Wales 
and Tasmania. They are quite common.

  b.. Southern Hairy-nosed wombats live in western South Australia which is 
a more arid area.

  c.. The Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat is rare and endangered. There are only 
about 70 animals left in one colony occupying 300 hectares (740 acres). They 
live in an area of flat, sandy, dry land with native grasses and scattered 
trees and scrub. The surrounding area was set aside in 1971 as Epping Forest 
National Park to preserve the wombats' habitat. The park is in central 
Queensland near Clermont.

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Links to Wombat Images
  The following images are Copyright 1995 Cyberdata

    a.. http://iccu6.ipswich.gil.com.au/comm/cyber/cs/page331.jpg

    b.. http://iccu6.ipswich.gil.com.au/comm/cyber/cs/page332.gif Range of 
Common and Southern Hairy Nosed

    c.. http://iccu6.ipswich.gil.com.au/comm/cyber/cs/page342.gif Range of 
Northern Hairy Nosed

  The following images have been collected by someone else


    a.. http://www.mistral.co.uk/ghira/vombato.jpg

    b.. http://www.mistral.co.uk/ghira/vombato2.jpg

    c.. http://www.mistral.co.uk/ghira/vombato3.jpg

    d.. http://www.mistral.co.uk/ghira/vombato4.jpg


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Links to Wombat Facts
  a.. http://www.erin.gov.au/human_env/esp/wombat.html (Australian Nature 
Conservation Agency)

  b.. http://kaos.erin.gov.au/life/end_vuln/animals/wombat.html (Australian 
Nature Conservation Agency)

  c.. http://mac-ra26.sci.deakin.edu.au/mammals/wombats0.html (a 
bibliography)

  d.. http://www.cl.utoledo.edu/userhomes/wlee/wombat.html (facts, fun and 
links)

  e.. http://www.bekkoame.or.jp/~makino/ (Japanese woman maintains wombat 
and astromony pages)

  f.. http://www.embl-heidelberg.de/ExternalInfo/stewart/wombat.html

  g.. http://cq-pan.cqu.edu.au/schools/local-schools/gps/wombat.html (An 
Australian school's wombat page)

  h.. http://iccu6.ipswich.gil.com.au/comm/cyber/cs/page33.html (Common and 
Southern Hairy Nosed)

  i.. http://iccu6.ipswich.gil.com.au/comm/cyber/cs/page34.html (Northern 
Hairy Nosed)


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Links to Wombat Fun
  a.. http://users.ox.ac.uk/~dbowler/Wom.html (This wombat looks like Rick's 
wombat Wally )

  b.. http://ranga.berkeley.edu/ASIS/earl.html (Someone's mascot Earl )

  c.. http://www.st.nepean.uws.edu.au/users/elien/index.html

  d.. http://www.crl.com/www/users/wo/wombat/wombat.html

  e.. http://plains.uwyo.edu/%7Ewombat/index.html