“That, mates, is a common wombat,” says our guide through this Aussie nature preserve.
“It’s like a mini teddy bear!” I point to an adorable specimen just beyond the wire mesh.
“That it is.” His accent is amazing. I’m a sucker for great accents.
We’ve fed kangaroos, watched Tasmanian devils attack their prey, chased emus (even though we weren’t supposed to), and held koalas. But the wombat has stolen my heart.
She follows the sound of my squeal with her tiny cat ears and turns her large brown nose to sniff the air. Her mottled chocolate fur is short and puffy. Her eyes are wide open, black pools of obsidian taking all of us in before she waddles over to get some carrots.
Wombats reach about 40 inches in length and hit somewhere around 55 pounds. Their claws are extremely strong, and most wombats are able to curl their paws into fists to pull up the grasses they like to eat. Like the marmots or ground squirrels to which they are compared, they live in burrows underground.
They are the second largest marsupial, kangaroos being the first largest, and are extremely strong diggers. The wombat’s pouch faces to the rear so her babies don’t get faces full of dirt when Mom decides to go digging. Babies live in the pouches for about five months, until they are strong enough to venture out into the world. But for two months afterward, they still retreat back to the pouch for food, warmth, and comfort. I want to see a baby wombat, but our guide says that all the babies they had are grown up now.
Wombats are mostly nocturnal, but zoos have a way of changing some natural habits. This one toddles slowly around her enclosure, sniffing leaves and examining our faces. She is cute. She is serene. She is unassuming.
“Can I take her home with me?” I ask.
“That would be a bit hard,” our guide says. “Wombats are an endangered species. In fact, most Aussies have never seen a Wombat in the wild.”
My face falls. I've lost my heart to a creature I may never see again. If I want to have a pet wombat, I’m going to have to move to Australia. I'll have to think on that one.
http://www.wombania.com/wombats/wombat-facts.htm
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/wombat/
Jana,
ReplyDeleteI love your enthusiasm, and the quirky comment at the end is fun to read. Perhaps this could be expanded to consider just how such a creature with strong claws and one that can make fists would fit into our regular lives if they were to be kept as pets. There is a chance here for a comparison to cats and dogs. Even when playing, a dog can scratch the jimmies out of you, so too would a wombat I think.
Also, the fact that you added about the pouch being in the rear offers a chance to be reflective and insightful. What good would that serve people? Perhaps better? There are tribes that carry their young on the back and we have invented the papoose (spelling?). You have a chance to explore the merits of how a mother carries a child.
Good stuff. I have never seen a wombat...but worked as a comonback once. I stood on a dock and directed trucks to, "come on back, come on back..." OH! Jokes for free.
Peace,
Dan
Dan's suggestion that there's a seed here for a larger exploration is a good one, since you're clearly emotionally invested in this creature. I find that idea compelling, about our loving the things - or here, animals - that are already being taken away.
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