Captive Wombat Behaviour

by Brigitte Stevens

Walking with wombats

I have spent three years sharing my life with a fairly dependent wombat plus over a decade working in zoo's with wombats and I am only touching the surface of their complexities. As mentioned in 'Directors Story' I was advised by a wombat specialist to start walking a Southern Hairy Nosed wombat that I was raising as he had arthritis. I am so privileged to have such a unique experience and want to share it with others if it can help to improve the lives of other wombats.

Barney the wombats' reaction to walk time is priceless! It is the highlight of his day and we can spend anywhere from one to six hours a night exploring. With spending so much time with an animal you gain an understanding and perhaps even a glimpse as to what these secretive animals must get up to under the protection of the night.

During our walks I began to note the different reactions he has to all that surrounds him. Different soils, rocks, trees, grasses and lichens he would either ignore or delight depending on the night. The most obvious discovery was that he would choose three different directions in which he would travel. He would travel one direction on night one, another direction on night two, another direction on night three then on the fourth night he would return to the destination of the first night and the cycle would continue.

When other wombats came into our care and were ready to be taken on walks, their behaviour like Barneys would change. They became settled, confident and tolerant of our presence. They too chose a destination route like Barney did. Every night the wombats would choose their own paths often following the smell of another wombat track however they never followed the same track on two consecutive nights.

Whilst photographing burrow systems of wild SHN wombats we noticed that they also had a trio of paths. This delighted me as the wombats in our care had hardly seen outside their enclosures before coming to us and they were instinctively following the behaviour utilised by their wild relatives!

Carers have been walking their wombats for years in preparation for release. Wombats in captivity could teach us alot more about their behaviour if they are actually being encouraged and allowed to demonstrate it!

The behavioural aspect in our 'Rehabilitation Centre' will specifically train zoo staff on 'Walking with Wombats' thus improving the lives of more captive wombats!