Common Wombat (Vombatus ursinus): Facts, Burrows and Cube Poop

What does a common wombat look like?

The common wombat is built like a small, furry barrel on legs. It has a broad, flattened head, small dark eyes, short rounded ears and a large bare nose with a grainy texture. That naked nose gives the species its other name, the bare-nosed wombat, and is the quickest way to tell it from the two hairy-nosed wombats.

The fur is thick and coarse. Its color ranges from sandy or light brown through gray to almost black, and some animals are grizzled. The legs are short and powerful, and each foot carries strong, broad claws used for digging. The tail is only a tiny stub hidden in the fur.

One feature sets wombats apart from all other marsupials: their teeth never stop growing. A wombat has a single pair of chisel-like upper and lower incisors, much like a rodent, and all of its teeth lack roots. Constant growth replaces the enamel that tough grasses wear away.

The rump is a defensive shield. Under the skin of the backside lies a hard plate of cartilage covered by thick hide and sparse hair. Wombats can turn this armored rear toward a predator at a burrow entrance.

How big is a common wombat?

The common wombat is similar in size to the two hairy-nosed wombats, while some extinct Ice Age relatives were far bigger. Size varies across its three subspecies.

The largest mainland wombats reach about 1.2 m (3.9 ft) and 35 kg (77 lb). Males and females are similar in size. A newborn joey, by contrast, weighs under 1 g (0.04 oz) and is about the size of a jelly bean.

Habitat and range

The common wombat lives only in Australia. Its range covers the cooler, wetter southeast: the Great Dividing Range and coast of New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, much of eastern and southern Victoria, a small area of southeastern South Australia, Tasmania and Flinders Island in Bass Strait. Wombats were introduced to Maria Island off eastern Tasmania around 1970, where they are now easy to see.

Within that range, wombats use many habitats as long as the soil is good for digging and there is plenty of grass nearby. They live in open eucalyptus forest and woodland, coastal heath and scrub, rainforest edges and alpine grassland, from sea level to about 1,800 m (5,900 ft). Many burrows are dug into creek banks and slopes. In some areas wombats graze in farm paddocks next to sheep and cattle.

Since European settlement the species has lost more than half of its former range. It is now patchy on the mainland, while Tasmania holds a large share of the remaining population.

What do common wombats eat?

Common wombats are herbivores and mostly graze. Native grasses such as tussock grasses and kangaroo grass make up most of the diet, along with sedges, rushes, herbs, roots, tubers, moss and occasionally bark. They clip grass very close to the ground with their front teeth, and over time favored feeding spots turn into short, lawn-like patches.

A wombat’s digestion is famously slow. Food can take around 8–14 days to pass through the gut, which lets microbes in the long colon extract as much energy and water as possible from tough, fibrous plants. Combined with a very low metabolic rate, this means a wombat needs less food and much less water than a sheep or kangaroo of similar size.

The end product is the wombat’s trademark: dry, cube-shaped droppings about 2 cm (0.8 in) across. A wombat can produce around 80–100 cubes a night. For the full explanation, see why wombats poop cubes.

Burrows and behavior

Wombats are expert diggers. A common wombat loosens soil with the claws of its front feet and shoves it backward with its body and hind feet, almost like a small bulldozer. Burrows are usually 2–20 m (7–65 ft) long, with side tunnels, sleeping chambers lined with grass and bark, and often more than one entrance. Each wombat uses several burrows in its home range and switches between them every few days.

The species is mostly nocturnal and crepuscular, meaning it is active at night and around dusk and dawn. On cold, cloudy winter days, however, wombats often come out in daylight to feed or sun themselves. A wombat may rest underground for 16 hours or more a day, where the burrow stays cool in summer and mild in winter.

Common wombats are solitary. Each animal has a home range of a few hectares, sometimes up to about 23 ha (57 acres), which can overlap with neighbors. They advertise their presence with scent and by leaving droppings on rocks, logs and burrow mounds. Despite their slow, waddling walk, wombats can sprint surprisingly fast for short distances; read more in how fast a wombat can run.

Burrows also help other animals. Echidnas, lizards, snakes, rabbits, small mammals and birds shelter in wombat tunnels, which is why ecologists describe wombats as ecosystem engineers.

Reproduction and the backward pouch

Common wombats can breed at any time of year, although births may peak in some seasons. A female usually has a single joey about every two years. Pregnancy lasts only about 20–30 days, after which the tiny, hairless newborn crawls into the pouch and attaches to a teat.

The female’s pouch opens toward her rear legs rather than toward her head. This keeps soil out while she digs and protects the joey inside. The backward pouch is shared with its closest living relative, the koala.

The joey stays in the pouch for about six to seven months. After that it follows its mother as a young-at-foot, still drinking milk, and is weaned at around 12–15 months. Young wombats become independent at about 18–20 months and can breed at about two years of age.

How long do wombats live?

Wild common wombats usually live up to about 15 years, although many die younger from disease, road traffic or predators. In captivity they live much longer, often past 20 years, and a few individuals have lived beyond 30 years in wildlife parks and zoos.

Predators and threats

Adult wombats have few natural predators. Dingoes and wild dogs take some, Tasmanian devils prey mainly on young or weak wombats in Tasmania, and wedge-tailed eagles can catch small juveniles. The extinct thylacine probably once hunted them too. A wombat’s main defense is to dive into a burrow and block the tunnel with its tough rump.

Today the biggest threats come from people and disease:

• Sarcoptic mange, caused by a mite introduced to Australia, leads to hair loss, crusted skin and often death. It has caused severe local declines in several areas.
• Road traffic kills many wombats, which often feed along road verges at night.
• Habitat loss and persecution have removed wombats from much of their former range. They were long treated as farm pests because of their burrowing and damage to fences.
• Bushfires and drought can kill animals and reduce food.

Conservation status

The IUCN Red List classes the common wombat as Least Concern, reflecting its fairly wide range and large total population. Tasmania alone is estimated to hold several hundred thousand animals. The picture is less healthy on the mainland, where many populations are small and isolated.

Common wombats are protected under state law in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania, and Victoria gave the species full protection in 2020. The other two wombat species are much rarer: the southern hairy-nosed wombat is Near Threatened, and the northern hairy-nosed wombat is Critically Endangered, with only a few hundred animals left.

Myths and facts

Myth: wombats crush predators against the burrow roof. This story is widely repeated, including in some textbooks, but there is little solid evidence for it. What is well documented is that a wombat blocks its tunnel with its hard rump, which is very difficult for a predator to bite.

Myth: wombats herded other animals into their burrows during the 2019–2020 bushfires. Viral social media posts claimed wombats acted as rescuers. Scientists pointed out that wombats do not shepherd other animals; however, other species do shelter in wombat burrows, and those burrows can give real protection from fire.

Fact: wombats are closely related to koalas. Wombats and koalas belong to the same group of marsupials, the Vombatiformes, and both have pouches that open toward the rear.

Relationship with people

Wombats are among Australia’s best-loved animals and appear on stamps, coins and in classic children’s books. The word wombat comes from the Dharug language of the Sydney region.

The relationship has not always been friendly. For decades wombats were classed as vermin in parts of Victoria and South Australia, and bounties were paid for them. Today wildlife carers rescue orphaned joeys from road-killed mothers, citizen science projects such as WomSAT map sightings and mange cases, and national parks on Maria Island, in Tasmania and in Victoria’s high country offer some of the best places to see wild wombats.

If you meet a wild wombat, enjoy it from a distance. Wombats are strong and can bite or charge when frightened, and drivers in wombat country should slow down at dusk and after dark.