Wombats are chubby, nocturnal, burrowing marsupials. They range in size from 20 - 40 kg, vary in colours from cream, brown, silver to black. Wombats have a long body that can reach a length of one metre, have short thick legs and a boney plate in their backside which they use as a form of defense. Their feet are fat and flat and have claws made for digging! Their teeth are continuously growing so wombats eat tough native grasses and chew on roots to keep them in check.

The pouch of a wombat is backward facing to avoid it being filled up with dirt! The gestation period is around 21-28 days dependant on the species. The joey will stay in their mothers pouch for up to nine months and stay with her anywhere up to two years. 

Like most other animals, the life span in captivity is almost double that of a wild individual. In the wild, wombats can live as long as 14 years where as in captivity there are wombats as old as 30 years!

Wombats have the largest brain to body size ratio of any marsupial and their intelligence has been likened to that of a dog. They are not 'muddleheaded' or 'grumpy', they just have their own agenda.

In captivity, wombats can be allocated as little as 21sqm for an enclosure! In the wild their territory ranges from 2 to 50 acres! This is why they are prone to stereotypic behaviour.

Wombats are highly evolved and spend the heat of the day in a cool burrow and only venture out when the temperature is optimum. Wombats prefer temperatures around 24 degrees Celsius as this is generally the temperature inside the burrow. When the outside temperature differs greatly, the wombat will slowly move toward the tunnel entrance, pausing as their bodies acclimatise to the outside temperature.

Wombats don't generally like to get wet however they love to dig after rain. Despite what you may see in a zoo wombats don't live in hollow logs, they are just like us and love soft comfortable beds!

As wombats spend most of the day under ground they are incredibly hard to observe. Relatively little is known about what actually goes on in their burrows or the general socialisation of any of the species.

Both the Southern Hairy Nosed and Bare Nosed wombats have been subjected to sarcoptic mange which eventually kills the animal. The remedy is simple but treatment is extremely difficult as catching a wombat or colony is virtually impossible when they retreat down their burrows!