The common wombat is a barrel-shaped, powerfully built marsupial that is one of Australia’s most tenacious diggers, excavating burrow systems that can extend 30 metres underground. Despite their stocky appearance, wombats can reach speeds of 40 km/h over short distances — fast enough to outrun a human — and when cornered in a burrow, they use their cartilaginous backside as a crushing weapon to pin predators against tunnel walls. Most remarkably, wombats produce cubic feces, the only animal on Earth known to do so, achieved through differential muscle contractions in their intestines.
About the Wombat
Vombatus ursinus
Advertisement
⚡ Speed Comparison
📸 Photo Gallery
💡 Fun Facts
01
Wombats are the only animals on Earth known to produce cubic feces — the cube shape is formed by differential drying and muscle contractions in the last 8 metres of intestine, not a square anus.
02
When threatened in their burrow, wombats use their reinforced cartilaginous rump as a battering ram, pressing it against the tunnel wall to crush a predator's skull between the rump and burrow ceiling.
03
Wombats have the slowest digestive system of any marsupial — food takes up to 14 days to pass through, extracting maximum nutrition from the dry, fibrous grasses of Australian heathlands.
04
Wombat pouches open backward (toward the hindquarters rather than the head) — an evolutionary solution that prevents soil from filling the pouch when the mother is digging.
05
During Australia's 2019-2020 bushfires, multiple wombat species were observed sharing burrow entrances with wallabies, rabbits, and other fleeing wildlife, offering inadvertent refuge to dozens of individuals.
📍 Where to Find This Animal
Habitat Types:
Temperate Forest, Heathland, Grassland
🛒 Wombat Related Gear
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Join the Conversation
Share your thoughts about the Wombat