Wombats

Oh, how I love 'em. I have seen a few in the wild - the most memorable was in Tasmania, on our honeymoon - he was trudging through the snow - I was sooo excited! - made the hike through Cradle mountain worth the sore bits. My big girl got a kiss from one not so long ago, that was very special ( I think I was much more excited than she).

Today I made a couple of common wombats - complete with little leather noses!

Nikki, from over at Toadstool house made them with her craft group a couple of weeks ago and I cheekly struck a deal for a kit (make one for me and one for their school market) I am so very glad she was so obliging!


The common wombat lives in burrows in the forest and bushland areas of Australia in Tasmania, Eastern Victoria, and along the Eastern ranges in NSW to Queensland. It has very strong claws and muscular thick legs to help in its digging. Wombats are the size of pigs and are very solidly built (about 1m/40" long and weigh 25kg/55lb). They are wild animals but are not afraid of humans and in their natural environment they have no predators.

Their diet is herbivorous and consists of roots, shoots and leaves. They emerge in late afternoon for scavenging in the evening and throughout the night. During the day they return to their burrows and go to sleep sometimes lying on their backs with their four feet sticking up in the air!

There are three main varieties of wombats; the common wombat, the Southern Hairy nosed wombat and the Northern hairy nosed wombat. The latter is very nearly extinct.

If you are interested - there is a most wonderful children's picture book The Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French (I have an autographed copy....)
wombat info from here and here