Class: Mammalia
Lifespan: Up to 35 years
Diet: Herbivore
Weight: Up to 32kg
Height: Up to 94cm
Speed: Up to 40km/h
Reproduction: Live birth
Status: Listed
With powerful limbs, sturdy bodies and shovel-like feet, wombats are one of the world’s largest burrowing animals. Their maze-like burrows can have up to 20 entrances and reach depths of three meters. The southern hairy-nosed wombat uses its burrow to keep cool in summer and warm in winter.
Wombats are marsupials, which mean females give birth to underdeveloped young known as joeys. Joeys climb into the mother’s pouch where they attach to a teat and drink milk. Wombat pouches face backwards so that the joeys are protected from soil when the mother is digging. Joeys leave the pouch for good at approximately 10 months of age.
Hairy-nosed wombats are distinguished from common wombats by their silky, grey-brown fur and their large square noses. They also have longer ears. The Southern hairy-nosed wombat is the smallest of all three wombat species. The Southern hairy-nosed wombat is related to the critically endangered Northern hairy-nosed wombat (Lasiorhinus krefftii). There are two colonies of Northern hairy-nosed wombats in Queensland; Epping Forest National Park and a successful relocation colony in St. George.