Wombat Facts Explained: The Burrowing Marsupial of Australia

A wombat can dig a burrow longer than a bowling alley, outrun a person, and defend itself with a rump tough enough to crush a predator against a tunnel wall. Despite its round, sleepy appearance, the wombat is one of Australia's most physically capable marsupials. Here's why the wombat is worth knowing about.

Wombat: A short-legged stocky marsupial of Tasmania and Australia. There are three species: the common wombat (Vombatus ursinus), the southern hairy-nosed wombat (Lasiorhinus latifrons), and the critically endangered northern hairy-nosed wombat (Lasiorhinus krefftii). The common wombat is the world's largest burrowing herbivore, and despite being built like a bear, its closest living relative is the koala.

Adult wombats typically weigh between 55 and 80 pounds and measure more than 4 feet long but are only about 2 feet tall at the shoulder thanks to their short, powerful legs. That low center of gravity has been designed for one thing. Digging.

Wombats are found in woodlands, coastlands, mountain forests, and shrublands of southeastern Australia. The common wombat occurs throughout Tasmania, New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. The southern hairy-nosed wombat prefers drier ground and is found in the semi-arid regions of South Australia and the Nullarbor Plain. The northern hairy-nosed wombat has the hardest time of all — its entire wild population is restricted to around 740 acres within Epping Forest National Park, Queensland, which is why it's listed as Critically Endangered.

A wombat burrow is more than a hole. These marsupials excavate tunnel systems up to 100 feet long, with multiple chambers branching off a single entrance. Common wombats have the largest home ranges of the three species, measuring up to 57 acres, while hairy-nosed species stay closer to a compact home burrow. The burrow does more than protect the wombat from dingoes — it regulates temperature, staying cool through scorching Australian summers and warm through cold nights.

Wombats are true herbivores. They are herbivores, feeding on grasses, plants, herbs, roots, bark, and mosses, and will graze for up to 8 hours a night, sometimes traveling far from their burrow in search of food. Their front teeth never stop growing. This is ideal for a diet that would wear down normal teeth in a few years.

But what sets wombats apart from the herd is how little they need. Wombats developed a very slow metabolism. They take 8 to 14 days to fully digest a meal. This is because their diet is low in energy, and they often live in resource-scarce terrain. That slow digestion allows it to pull every nutrient it can from the fibrous, tough plants it eats—and that's also responsible for the wombat's most famous party trick.

Why do wombats poo in cubes? Wombats make cube-shaped poop, and deliberately pile it on rocks and logs as scent markers. The square shape prevents the pile from rolling away – a practical solution for an animal that uses stationary landmarks to signal territory to other wombats moving through the darkness.

Wombats are mainly nocturnal, sleeping around 16 hours a day and coming out at night to eat, but will sometimes feed on cool, overcast days. They are territorial and mostly solitary, guarding their patch of ground rather than living in groups. But alone doesn't mean powerlessness. If threatened, a wombat can run at speeds of up to 25 miles per hour and maintain that pace for 90 seconds, which is fast enough to outrun most predators over short distances and reach the safety of its burrow.

A predator such as a dingo and a devil, if it follows the wombat underground, has a second means of defense. Its rump is covered all the way—a leathery skin that can block off the entrance to its burrow, and a wombat can use its reinforced butt to crush an intruder's skull against the roof of the tunnel. It's not glamorous, but it's a very effective last line of defense.

Baby wombats are called joeys, the same name as baby kangaroos. The gestation period is only 20 to 30 days, and the mother births a single jellybean-sized joey. Wombats dig constantly. So evolution solved an obvious problem: a wombat's pouch faces backward, so flying dirt doesn't hit the joey while the mother is excavating. The joey stays in that pouch for about six months and continues to nurse for a total of about 15 months before it becomes independent.

Depends on the species. The common wombat is currently classified as Least Concern, and populations are stable across most of its range. However, the northern hairy-nosed wombat is critically endangered under the IUCN Red List, threatened by habitat loss, drought, predation, and roadkill across its tiny remaining range. In Queensland, conservation efforts are underway. Conservationists now focus on safeguarding that single population and establishing backup colonies in other locations to prepare for potential disasters at the original site.

Curious how wombats compare to Australia's other pouched mammals? Try the random animal generator to pull up a new species, or explore related pages on kangaroos and koalas for more marsupial deep-dives.

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