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Wombats are small mammals that lives in Southeastern Australia, Tasmania, and a
small area in Epping Forest National Park. There are only three species left, the
three species are the common wombat, northern hairy nosed wombat, and the
southern hairy nosed wombat. The northern hairy wombat is the most highly
endangered of them all, with approximately 163 left in the world, a 50 wombat
increase since 2003. This species is officially critically endangered according to
the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Some reasons for the wombat
becoming endangered include competition for resources with other animals,
disease, and being hunted by wolves. Another, and most prominent reason, is that
humans have hunted them for a long time, mostly because they were vermin, as
declared by Australia in 1905. However, today they are protected in every state
except Victoria. There are also multiple colonies in which people are trying to
bring back the wombat.
Wombats are generally about 3.3 feet long, and are 44-77 pounds in size. They are
marsupials, meaning they carry their young in a pouch. Marsupials primarily live
in the Americas and Australia. Wombats are descendants of the giant marsupial
called the Diprotodon, which lived in Australia and which were hippo sized.
Seriously. Hippo sized Wombats. They are the common ancestors of the wombat
and the koala. The Common wombat and Southern Hairy Nosed Wombat are both
Australian Megafaunal, animals which are characterized as either over 45
kilograms in body mass, or at least 30% bigger than their closest relatives.
Wombats are small and furry and most people describe them as looking like really
small and extremely cute bears. Wombats are generally not dangerous to people, as
people are very rarely injured by them. Here are some wombat fun facts: First, in
Australia, there is an unofficial holiday on October 22nd called “National Wombat
Day.” Second, the unofficial mascot at the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics was
Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat, a cartoon wombat created by Paul Newell. Third,
wombats generally move slowly, but when threatened can run up to 25 mph.
Fourth, a group of wombats is called a wisdom. The fact that these cute little
animals are going extinct NEEDS TO STOP, and this is why people need to take
every measure possible to stop them from going extinct.
Will: And so, just, this is just as an aside, in general, with any animal, not just the
wombat, but like, another animal on the verge of extinction, would, what would
they do?
Dr. Murrow: Well, so, my immediate reaction to that you’re gonna be- you’re
gonna get more bang for your buck at gearing your resources and your energy
towards threatened species, species that are actually endangered are already on the
cusp so much that you’re gonna expend massive amounts of resources to
potentially save one where, this is my personal opinion as an ecologist, we might
be better off saving a threatened species or an umbrella species, where you save a
species that requires a lot of resources and you inherently protect a ton of species
underneath them, like the Brown Bear. If you’re able to actually protect Brown
Bear, by protecting them invariably you’re protecting potentially hundreds of other
species, because of the space requirements that they have. So I think it’s a hard
question to answer, you have to look at endangered species individually to see
what they need. Usually you’re talking about major regulations, and you’re often
talking about habitat manipulation, and then potentially even breeding programs,
to bring these populations that have experienced massive loss, back to a healthy
population.
Eli: Okay, so, based on the information you already know about wombats, and the
information we have given you, what can be done to help save the wombats and
their habitat?
Dr. Murrow: So, dingo are one of the big problems, and they’ve done a fence to
protect the small population of wombats that is critically endangered, so they’ve
done as much as they could in terms of predation, and there’s invasive plant
species, and Australia has dealt with pretty significant invasive issues. So, between
invasive plants and kangaroo competition, those are probably the two things that
they can continue to do, along with perfecting the captive breeding of the common
wombat because in the long run that’s probably going to be their best way to
bolster numbers if the population starts to decline again. Now I think they’re
seeing some increases in numbers right now, so it might be that they’re able to
kinda bring themselves back based on what they’ve done thus far, but we’re gonna
just have to wait and see.
Will: Ok, and our final question on this list, though we will probably ask you
more, is, do you think the wombat will go extinct?
Dr.Murrow: Hmm, that’s really hard to know, I mean, I’ve seen populations
started with a lot less than that. So, I mean, for example, for my PHD work, we
started a population of elk with only 52 animals. So, it’s totally feasible that they
make it, and if Australia keeps up with the resources that they’ve put into this, I
think it’s not very likely, assuming, you know, barring a catastrophe or some
disease that we haven’t identified yet, that breaks out in the colony. But you never
know. That’s the really- that’s still a really small number. People feel a lot better
when you get above 250, and even much better when you get above 500. So if that
happens in the next, you know, 10 to 20 years, then I would feel pretty
comfortable saying they’re out of the woods.
Will: Well, that's a good thing.
So, what can be done for the wombat? There are many shelters for the wombats.
One of them is Cedar Creek Wombat Rescue. This is a wombat shelter in New
South Wales, one of the main states in which wombats live, along with Victoria
and Tasmania. Cedar Creek Wombat Rescue was founded over 30 years ago, and
it all started when Roz and Kev became aware of the wombats being in danger,
and decided they wanted to help. They have nurtured many wombats back to
health, and are still doing it to this day. One of their success stories is of Lucky,
the wombat. Lucky was found by the side of the road, severely injured and lying
next her dead mom. According to their site, lucky had “Blood covering her nose,
minimally responsive from a severe concussion, bruised lungs, pelvic fractures and
cuts and scrapes, she was given little chance to live.” But they decided to help her
anyway. She was originally too weak to eat food, so they injected her with food
for two weeks, all while putting her on pain medication and antibiotics. She
eventually began to heal, but had to have surgery for her hip, leaving a distinctive
scar. With proper nourishment Lucky was able to recover and become a very large
wombat.
But then, three years, a large wombat appeared outside the Cedar Creek Wombat
Rescue. She was seriously injured and it became quite clear that the Wombat had
been attacked by dogs. She appeared having “Both ears were shredded leaving
little that even looked like an ear. The wounds were full of maggots, she was thin,
in pain and her abdomen was distended,” according to the Cedar Creek Wombat
Rescue site. They checked her side for wounds, and found a scar, reminding them
of a Wombat that they had operated on three years ago. It was Lucky. Cedar Creek
Wombat rescue immediately took lucky in and started giving her treatment. they
were able to stitch up some of the gaping wounds and get the Maggots out of her
system. Eventually Lucky regained the weight she had lost and many of her
wounds healed. It is organizations like Cedar Creek Wombat Rescue that our able
to help insure that The Northern hairy nosed Wombat does not go extinct. Raising
awareness about the Struggle of The northern hairy nosed wombats, and
organizations like this could be crucial in the Northern Hairy Nosed Wombats fight
for survival