Wombats are Australian marsupials; they are short-legged, muscular quadrupeds, approximately one metre (3 feet) in length with a very short tail. The name wombat comes from the Eora Aboriginal community who were the original inhabitants of the Sydney area. Wombats dig extensive burrow systems with rodent-like front teeth and powerful claws. Although mainly crepuscular and nocturnal, wombats will also venture out to feed on cool or overcast days. They are not as commonly seen as many animals, but leave ample evidence of their passage, treating fences as a minor inconvenience to be gone through or under and leaving distinctive cubic scats. Wombats are herbivores, their diet consisting mostly of grasses, sedges, herbs, bark and roots. They are preyed on by the Tasmanian Devil. Their fur color can vary from a sandy color to brown, or from grey to black.

Vombatus

• Vombatus ursinus
  Lasiorhinus
  
  
  
  • Lasiorhinus latifrons
    Lasiorhinus krefftii
    †Rhizophascolomus
    †Phascolonus
    †Warendja
    †Ramasayia History
    Wombats have an extraordinarily slow metabolism, taking around 14 days to complete digestion, and generally move slowly. When required, however, they can reach up to 40 km/h and maintain that speed for up to 90 seconds.
    When attacked, they can summon immense reserves of strength — one defense of a wombat against a predator (such as a Dingo) underground is to crush it against the roof of the tunnel until the wombat has caused the predator to cease breathing. Its primary defence is its toughened rear hide with most of the posterior made of cartilage which, combined with its lack of a meaningful tail, presents a difficult-to-bite target to any enemy who follows the wombat into its tunnel. One naturalist commented, that a predator biting into a wombat's rear would find it "comparable to the business end of a toilet brush".
    
    Ecology and behavior
    There are three species, all around a metre long and weighing between 20 and 35 kg (44 to 77 pounds):
    
    Common Wombat (Vombatus ursinus)
    Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat (Lasiorhinus latifrons)
    Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat or Yaminon (Lasiorhinus krefftii)