The Northern Hairy Nosed Wombat

The Northern Hairy Nosed Wombat is a land mammal and is one

of three species of wombats. The Northern Hairy Nosed Wombat gets
its common name from its broad muzzle with fine whiskers. These
great diggers used to be abundant in the New South Wales, Victoria,
and Queensland regions of Australia but are now only known to be in a
three square kilometer area in Queensland. There are known to be an
estimated 163 Northern Hairy Nosed Wombats left in the world, as of
2010, although studies show that as of late the population is on a slow
rise. These members of the marsupial family are said to be some of
the rarest animals on the planet and are on the critically endangered
list. Threats to the Northern Hairy Nosed Wombat include disease,
predation and other inside and outside factors.

The Northern Hairy Nosed Wombat is a nocturnal heavy-set

herbivore. They weigh approximately sixty-five to seventy-five pounds
and are approximately forty to forty-five inches long, with the females
being slightly larger. As previously stated the Northern Hairy Nosed
Wombat gets its name from the fine whiskers on its snout. These
wombats have powerful limbs and sharp claws used for digging.
Furthermore, these wombats butts are said to be as hard as a wooden
plank so they can push dirt that they loosened with their sharp claws

out of the way when creating their burrows. The Northern Hairy Nosed
Wombat is an herbivore whose diet consists of many different types of
grass. These marsupials need very little water intake as it receives
most of its water from its plant dominated diet. The Northern Hairy
Nosed Wombats noses are necessary for their survival as they great
sense of smell, which it needs because these marsupials have very
poor eyesight.

The Northern Hairy Nosed Wombats live in a small, three square

kilometer, area in Queensland, Australia. These marsupials are
adapted to desert ecosystems by spending the daytime out of the sun,
in their burrows. The wombats burrows are large, complicated multientrance tunnels which are homes to small groups. They prefer to live
in flat grasslands or eucalyptus forests, the sandy soil in these areas
are perfect for digging their burrows.

Threats to the Northern Hairy Nosed Wombats include disease,

droughts, floods, infighting for food, wildfires, habitat loss and
predation. Floods can easily drown them in their burrows while forest
fires can also wipe them out quickly as they arent very quick.
Furthermore, their small, focal population makes it disastrous when a
natural disaster strikes. The largest predators to these animals are wild

dogs. Many conservation efforts have been set in place to try and
protect this critically endangered species.

Due to conservation efforts put forth, the population of the

Northern Hairy Nosed Wombats has been on a slow climb. These
efforts include having a protected habitat of around three hundred
hectares in the Epping National Forest. Also a predator-proof fence has
been placed around twenty-five square kilometers of the park. To go
along with that a second population has been established at a refuge
near St. George, Australia, also protected by a predator-proof fence.