Captive Wombat Behaviour

by Brigitte Stevens

Any facility holding wombats is welcomed to contact us for help and advice to move towards improving the life of their wombat. 

Techniques utilised in behavioural rehabilitation of captive wombats

Wombats are extremely sensitive, they can pick up on peoples moods, will often sulk and react to the tone and content of our voices. Using calm, soothing movements and words the bond and trust develops which then leads to new and exciting ventures for us and the wombats.

We interact with wombats in our care after they have woken and had a snack in the evening. Wombats' activity is dictated purely by the weather. On cool days they will be up early (3pm) and on warmer days they will surface around 7-8 pm.

Making a nocturnal animal diurnal is like making us stay up all night. We would get grumpy and agitated too. So for behavioural rehabilitation we must create the ideal environment for a captive wombat.

Aggression is the most common complaint with captive wombats. Assessing whether the aggression is territorial or a stereotypic behaviour is relatively easy.

Territorial aggression is a natural behaviour. It is more common in male Southern Hairy Nosed wombats and both sexes in the Bare Nosed wombats.  When the wombat is removed from their territory eg to another enclosure you will generally be given a few days grace from the aggression.

Stereotypic behaviour is caused from boredom and depression and is very common in captive wombats. Generally this is a long process to reverse and the animal must only have one person associating with them at this point. Trust is to be earnt on both sides. Once this is accomplished, enrichment techniques can gradually be introduced like walking which gradually undo the damage.