What’s not to love about wombat? Their rumps are hard as a rock, their poo is cube-shaped, they are lickity-quick and they are adorable, particularly in joey form. I write this ode to the wombat to celebrate the successful breeding of the second southern hairy-nosed wombat joey of the Taronga Zoo breeding program. Sydney recently ventured outside her momma wombat’s pouch for the first time.
(Mother Korra and Sydney. Photo Credit: Taronga Zoo)
(Sydeney Leaps into the Day! Photo Credit: Taronga Zoo)
(Sydney Playing Peek-A-Boo in the grass! Photo Credit: Taronga Zoo)
The news is especially encouraging for their endangered cousins the Northern Hair-Nosed wombat, a critically endangered species for which the Taronga Zoo hopes to start a similar breeding program. Currently, Northern Hairy-Nosed Wombats number around two hundreds and is the largest known herbivorous burrowing mammal, according to ARKive.
(Image Credit: ARKive)
