Northern Hairy Nosed Wombats

The Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat is a marsupial having a backward facing pouch. The name comes from its distinctive muzzle which is covered with short brown hairs. It is strong and heavily built, with short, powerful legs and strong claws that are used to dig burrows or search for suitable plants to eat. Its fur is soft, silky, and mainly brown, mottled with grey, fawn and black. It has a broad head, and the ears are long and slightly pointed with tufts of white hair on the edges. Like most marsupials, the Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat is active at night, usually at dawn or dusk. Although mostly solitary, wombats often share burrows. Each burrow has several entrances and contains moist air which stays at a constant temperature throughout the year. The Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat eats native and introduced grasses and stays close to one of its many burrows. The wombat's teeth never stop growing, allowing it to grind its food even when old. The Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat gives birth to one young during the wet season (November - April). The young stay in the mothers pouch for eight to nine months. They leave their mother at about 15 months.The Northern Hairy- nosed Wombat once occurred near Deniliquin (New South Wales), on the Moonie River near St George (southern Queensland) and at Epping Forest near Clermont (central Queensland). Fossil records from New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland show that they lived over a larger area, but probably not in high numbers. The last known colony of Northern Hairy-nosed Wombats is now restricted to 300 ha in Epping Forest National Park in central Queensland. The Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat occurs along an ancient water course in the park where the soil is sandy and dry.Their feeding areas contain native grasses, scattered eucalypts and acacias, and patches of scrub. The wombats live in groups of large burrows usually located near trees.Some of the things endangering Wombats are : Habitat loss and change, drought and competition with cattle, sheep and rabbits for food have contributed to the decline of the Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat. Epping Forest National Park is now fenced to keep out cattle and sheep and will be fenced during 2002 to exclude dingoes which killed 10 northern hairy-nosed wombats during 2000-01. Introduced buffel grass, planted in the area for cattle feed, outcompetes the native grasses and forces the wombats to travel further to find the native species they prefer to eat. The small population of Northern Hairy-nosed Wombats that remains is susceptible to predation, fire and inbreeding