“Wombats produce cube-shaped droppings — the only animal known to do so — which they stack on rocks and logs to mark territory without the droppings rolling away.”
The wombat is a stocky burrowing marsupial native to the forests of southeastern Australia. It produces distinctive cube-shaped droppings and carries its young in a backward-facing pouch to keep dirt out while digging.
By An Nguyen · Published · Updated
Vombatus ursinusDiprotodontiaVombatidae
Browse wombat photographs—from burrow entrances and grazing to joeys and cube-shaped droppings.
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Core article
A closer look at habitat, diet, behavior, reproduction, and conservation.
The common wombat (Vombatus ursinus) is a powerfully built burrowing marsupial of the temperate forests and mountains of southeastern Australia. About the size of a medium dog but far more muscular, it is a solitary herbivore that spends most of its life underground in tunnel systems hundreds of feet long. It is best known for two genuine oddities found in almost no other animal: a backward-facing pouch that keeps dirt off the joey while the mother digs, and droppings shaped like cubes.
The wombat is the only animal known to produce cube-shaped scat. The shape comes from differing elasticity along the walls of the intestine, which moulds the drying pellets into cubes — and the flat sides matter, because a wombat stacks its droppings on rocks, logs, and raised ground as territory markers, and cubes do not roll off. The backward-opening pouch is the second signature trait: because a digging wombat would otherwise shower its young with soil, the pouch faces to the rear, keeping the joey clean. A third is defensive — a plate of tough cartilage under the skin of the rump, used to block a burrow entrance and shield the animal from anything that follows it in.
Wombats are compact and barrel-shaped, 31 to 47 inches long and 44 to 77 pounds, with coarse fur from sandy brown to near black. Almost everything about the build serves excavation: short but immensely strong forelimbs tipped with broad, flattened digging claws, a wide reinforced pelvis, and a flattened skull that keeps a low profile in a tunnel. Their teeth are unique among marsupials — rootless and ever-growing like a rodent's — an answer to the heavy wear from tough, silica-rich grass. Digestion is among the slowest of any mammal: an intestinal tract up to 33 feet long takes 14 to 18 days to process a meal, squeezing the most from poor forage.
The common wombat lives in forest, woodland, and montane heath across New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania, from sea level to alpine ground above 5,900 feet in the Snowy Mountains. It needs slopes or ridges of well-drained, workable soil for burrowing. A single wombat may maintain a burrow system over 650 feet long, with several entrances, side tunnels, and chambers, where the temperature stays near 68°F year-round — insulation against both summer heat and winter frost.
Wombats are hindgut-fermenting herbivores that feed mainly on native grasses such as wallaby grass and kangaroo grass, with sedges, roots, bark, and herbs added. They graze at night, emerging at dusk for three to eight hours before returning underground. Their ever-growing teeth crop tough vegetation close to the ground, and their very slow digestion extracts so much water and nutrition from dry grass that they have one of the lowest water needs of any large mammal, able to get by on dew-moistened grass in drought.
Wombats are solitary and territorial, each holding a home range of roughly 12 to 57 acres marked with those cube droppings on prominent spots. Faced with a predator such as a dingo or Tasmanian devil, a wombat bolts headfirst into its burrow and jams the tunnel with its armoured rump; if the attacker forces in behind it, the wombat can drive upward and crush the intruder's skull against the tunnel roof. Usually placid, they can bite and charge when cornered. They are mainly nocturnal but will bask near a burrow entrance on cool days, and communicate with grunts, hisses, and a jaw-clicking sound.
Common wombats breed year-round, with a spring peak. As in all marsupials, gestation is very short — just 20 to 22 days — and the newborn, under a tenth of an ounce, crawls into the rear-facing pouch immediately. It stays there six to seven months, then follows its mother for about another year while shifting to solid food. Wombats mature at around two years and live about 15 in the wild, up to 20 in captivity, with one record individual reaching 34.
The common wombat is Least Concern with a mostly stable population. Its main threats are habitat clearing for agriculture, competition with introduced livestock, and roads — it is among the most frequently roadkilled mammals in southeastern Australia. Sarcoptic mange, caused by a parasitic mite, is a growing and cruel threat, and some landowners still cull wombats as pests despite legal protection. The picture is far graver for its relative the northern hairy-nosed wombat, which is Critically Endangered with fewer than 300 individuals at just two sites in Queensland, kept alive by predator-proof fencing, habitat work, and captive breeding.
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Mammalia
Order
Diprotodontia
Family
Vombatidae
Genus
Vombatus
Species
V. ursinus
Wombats produce cube-shaped droppings — the only animal known to do so — which they stack on rocks and logs to mark territory without the droppings rolling away.
A wombat's pouch faces backward to prevent dirt from entering while the mother digs her burrow.
Wombats have a reinforced cartilage plate on their rump that they use to block burrow entrances against predators.
A single wombat burrow system can stretch over 650 feet with multiple entrances and chambers.
Despite their stocky build, wombats can sprint at up to 25 mph — fast enough to outrun a human.
Wombat teeth grow continuously throughout their lives, worn down by their abrasive diet of grasses and roots.
Select a question to reveal the answer.
A wombat is a stocky, burrowing marsupial native to Australia. It belongs to the family Vombatidae and is most closely related to the koala, sharing a common ancestor.
Wombats live in forest and woodland habitats across southeastern Australia, including Tasmania. They prefer slopes with well-drained soil where they can construct their extensive burrow systems.
Wombats are strict herbivores. They feed primarily on native grasses, sedges, roots, bark, and herbs, foraging mainly at night.
Wombat intestines have varying elasticity along their walls, which shapes the feces into cubes during a slow, 14-to-18-day digestion process. The cube shape prevents droppings from rolling off rocks and logs where wombats place them as territorial markers.
Yes. Wombats and koalas are the closest living relatives among marsupials. Both belong to the suborder Vombatiformes, though they diverged millions of years ago into very different ecological niches.
Common wombats grow 31 to 47 inches (80 to 120 cm) long and weigh 44 to 77 pounds (20 to 35 kg). They are compact and muscular, built for digging.
Wombats are generally docile but can be aggressive when cornered. They can deliver powerful bites with their rodent-like teeth and can knock a person over with a charge.
The backward-facing pouch prevents soil and debris from burying the joey while the mother digs. This adaptation is shared with other burrowing marsupials.
Wombats retreat into their burrows and block the entrance with their hardened cartilage rump, which is nearly impervious to bites. They can also crush a predator's skull against the burrow ceiling with an upward thrust.
Common wombats live about 15 years in the wild and up to 20 years in captivity. Their lifespan depends heavily on habitat quality and predator pressure from dingoes.
Wombats are primarily nocturnal and crepuscular, emerging from their burrows at dusk to feed. In cooler weather they may also bask in the sun during the day.
The common wombat is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN. However, the northern hairy-nosed wombat is Critically Endangered, with fewer than 300 individuals remaining in the wild.
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