Sunday 12 March 2017

Wandering Wombat


Common Wombat Vombatus ursinus.

This wild wombat is resident at Green Cape Light, New South Wales. It has an extensive burrow near the National Park ranger's home and uses her carport as a latrine (which I'm sure she could probably do without). However, it does mean that I have excellent photos of wombat poo in my archive. I will forego showing you, but wombat poo is famous because it is cubic in form.

Wombats are about a metre long and can weigh as much as 40kg. They live in the cooler areas of Australia, in forests, grasslands and coastal heath. Solitary and territorial they are mainly nocturnal, but can be seen out grazing in broad daylight too if the weather isn't too hot. They live about 15 years. Like most Australian native mammals they are marsupials, raising their single young in a pouch.

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One of my favorite cartoonists has died. Murray Ball started writing Footrot Flats in New Zealand in the mid 70's, and as anyone who has had anything to do with sheepdogs can tell -  he knew dogs!

WWLD may have become an internet meme but this is the first instance of it, from 1977

Simon

3 comments:

Autolycus said...

WWLD: If it had been Australia, I expect Skippy would have come to the rescue...

Simon said...

very true. I loved that show

Tim said...

I love the Footrot Flats cartoons... what a loss... but he's left a great collection!
Yes, he knew BCs... often saw my old guy in these.
And, after hearing, from Simon last night, about the mobile brick-outhouses that wombats are... and the block shaped poo... you will have to post a picture, even if you didn't want to offend on a Sunday!!

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