Northern hairy-nosed wombat

Northern hairy-nosed wombat Photo: DERM

What do northern hairy-nosed wombats look like?
What does a northern hairy-nosed wombat's nose feel like?
How many species of wombats are there in Australia?
What is the conservation status of the northern hairy-nosed wombat?
Where do northern hairy-nosed wombats live?
What is the habitat of northern hairy-nosed wombats?
What does the burrow of a northern hairy-nosed wombat look like?
How many northern hairy-nosed wombats are there?
What do northern hairy-nosed wombats eat?
How do northern hairy-nosed wombats breed?
What are the threats to northern hairy-nosed wombats?
Recovery Actions
How can you help northern hairy-nosed wombats?
Further information

What do northern hairy-nosed wombats look like?

The forepaw of a northern hairy-nosed wombat. Photo: DERM

Wombats are heavily built animals with a broad head and short legs. They have strong claws to dig their burrows, where they live much of the time.

When wombats walk, their long behinds sway from side to side. This feature, combined with a large head and habits such as curling up to rest on their sides or sitting on their haunches with their forepaws folded in front, make wombats appear slow and clumsy.

However, appearances are deceptive. Wombats can move fast - up to 40 km/h over a short distance!

What does a northern hairy-nosed wombat's nose feel like?

The best description of what the nose feels like is a marshmallow covered in very fine fur.

How many species of wombats are there in Australia?

Australia has three species of wombat.

northern haory nosed wombat
Northern hairy-nosed wombat

Australia has three species of wombats. The largest of the three is the northern hairy-nosed wombat, which can weigh up to 40 kg and be more than one metre long. Compared with the common wombat, northern hairy-nosed wombats have softer fur, longer and more pointed ears and a broader muzzle fringed with fine whiskers. They are generally nocturnal but have been seen sunning themselves in the late afternoon winter/autumn sun. At Epping Forest National Park (Scientific), northern hairy-nosed wombats are known to have lived for 26 years.

Common wombat

Common wombats have a bare pointed nose, small ears and coarser brown fur. Common wombats are nocturnal during the summer, but in winter often come out of their burrows during the day.

southern hairy nosed wombat
Southern hairy-nosed wombat

The southern hairy-nosed wombat is the smallest wombat species. It has a broad hairy nose, long ears and soft grey-brown fur. Southern hairy-nosed wombats are the most arid-adapted wombats.

What is the conservation status of the northern hairy-nosed wombat?

Common name: northern hairy-nosed wombat

Scientific name: Lasiorhinus krefftii

Family: Vombatidae (wombats)

The northern hairy-nosed wombat is listed as:

Endangered in Queensland under the Queensland Nature Conservation Act 1992
Endangered nationally under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
Critically Endangered internationally under the World Conservation Union's (IUCN) Redlist of Threatened Species, which lists species at a global level.

It might have already been in decline when Europeans settled, and was probably the least common of the three wombat species at that time.

Since then, competition for food from introduced grazing animals - particularly during droughts - has probably added to the wombat's decline.

Where do northern hairy-nosed wombats live?

Fossil records show that northern hairy-nosed wombats were once widespread, living in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. But since European settlement, these wombats have only been found in three areas - the Deniliquin area in south New South Wales, the Moonie River area in south Queensland, and Epping Forest.

Species distribution graph.

The distribution of wombat species in Australia

Currently, northern hairy-nosed wombats live at two sites that are both in Queensland. These two sites are Epping Forest National Park (Scientific) and the Richard Underwood Nature Refuge.

Epping Forest National Park (Scientific) is located in inland central Queensland. It is 3,160 hectares of open eucalypt woodland, and was gazetted in 1974.

A second colony of northern hairy-nosed wombats is being established at Richard Underwood Nature Refuge at Yarran Downs near St George in southern Queensland. The nature refuge was gazetted on the 27 November 2008, and protects about 105 hectares of eucalypt woodland on old river levees. There is an additional area within the predator-proof fence which is an environmental reserve.

What is the habitat of northern hairy-nosed wombats?

Northern hairy-nosed wombats require adequate habitat for feeding and burrowing. As northern hairy-nosed wombats feed on native grasses, they prefer open eucalypt woodlands with open areas of native grass.

Wombats dig burrows, in which they rest during daylight hours, but not all soils are suitable for burrows. Research at Epping Forest National Park (Scientific) has found that northern hairy-nosed wombats prefer deep, sandy soils along dry creek beds in which to dig their burrows. They do forage in habitats with heavy clay soils, but do not dig burrows in these areas. At Epping Forest National Park (Scientific), burrows are often, but not always, associated with bauhina trees.

What does the burrow of a northern hairy-nosed wombat look like?

A 'runway' into a wombat burrow Photo: DERM

A northern hairy-nosed wombat burrow can be spotted by the mound of dug-out sand at the entrance, which can be one metre high and more than two metres long. This ‘runway’ leads to the burrow entrance, and it is formed as the wombats dig with their forepaws, throwing loose sand behind. They then walk backwards out of their burrow to bulldoze the sand clear. A northern hairy-nosed wombat will mark its burrow with dung and splashes of urine.

A burrow tunnel can be up to 20 metres long and three-and-a-half metres underground. But it's only just wide enough for a wombat to pass - at a little less than half a metre. The temperature in the burrows ranges from 12° to 28° Celsius.

Burrows are popular with other animals such as swamp wallabies and goannas, which rest in the burrows during hot weather.

How many northern hairy-nosed wombats are there?

At the last census in 2007 there was an estimated population of 138 wombats at Epping Forest National Park (Scientific). Since the erection of a predator-proof fence, numbers have been rising.

What do northern hairy-nosed wombats eat?

The skull of a northern hairy-nosed wombat Photo: DERM

Northern hairy-nosed wombats eat native and some introduced grasses. They eat leaves rather than stems, which provide the wombats with good nutrition.

The wombats' cool, humid burrows helps them to conserve energy. The wombats will only come out to feed at night and only when it's not too cold or too hot and dry.

They usually feed for six hours a night in winter and two hours in summer. By comparison, an eastern grey kangaroo of similar size feeds for about 18 hours a day!

Radio-tracking has shown wombats feed over a fairly small area for an animal of their size - about 27 hectares.

Winter (dry season) feeding areas are larger than summer (wet season) areas due to the lower availability of food. There is no difference in size between the areas used by males and females.

Wombats continue to grow all their life. The wombats' teeth grow from the roots at the same rate they are worn through use. This means even a very old wombat still has all its strong teeth and is capable of grinding its food very finely.

Even in droughts, adult northern hairy-nosed wombats stay in generally good health and body condition. This is because of their ability to conserve energy and water in the stable environment of their burrows and by only venturing out when conditions are optimal.

At Epping Forest National Park (Scientific) and Richard Underwood Nature Refuge supplementary food and water stations have been installed. These are not used by all northern hairy-nosed wombats.

How do northern hairy-nosed wombats breed?

Pouch young with one leg visible Photo: DERM

A pouch young in 2009 Photo: DERM

Based on the southern hairy-nosed wombats, female northern hairy-nosed wombats are likely to be sexually mature at about 2.5 years old and males at about 3 years old.

At Epping Forest National Park (Scientific), most young are born in summer between November and April. They're in the pouch for six to nine months. The exact time young wombats spend with their mothers is unknown, but it's probably about one year.

Young wombats start fending for themselves during summer. Between 50 and 80 percent of females breed in good years, giving birth to one wombat at a time.

Although breeding rates fell during droughts in the early part of the 1990s, better than average rainfall at Epping Forest National Park (Scientific) from 1996 to 2000 has turned things around. In recent years water and supplementary feed have been provided to the wombats and burrow monitoring has indicated, based on the size of footprints and dung at burrows, that we now have a significant number of young wombats in the population.

What are the threats to northern hairy-nosed wombats?

Flooding at Epping Forest National Park (Scientific) in January 2008 Photo: DERM

Small population size: A threat to the northern hairy-nosed wombat's survival is the low number of wombats and that, until recently, all occurred in a single population.
Predation by wild dogs: In 2000 and 2001, despite the presence of a regular baiting program, ten adult northern hairy-nosed wombats were killed by wild dogs. This equates to nearly 10 per cent of the population at that time! In response to this threat, DERM built a predator-proof fence around the entire wombat habitat at Epping Forest National Park (Scientific) in 2002 to permanently protect the population.
Competition for food: The main competitors for food of the northern hairy-nosed wombats within the enclosure at Epping Forest National Park (Scientific) are the eastern grey kangaroo and swamp wallaby.
Disease: Diseases, such as toxoplasmosis (found in cat faeces) or mange, are potential threats to the wombats.
Floods: Floods are also a potential threat. In January 2008 Epping Forest National Park (Scientific) was isolated by the floodwaters that covered much of central Queensland. The Belyando River normally flows some 10km to the west of Epping Forest National Park (Scientific), but at the flood's peak the Park was in the middle of a vast inland sea, with water from the river flowing through the western boundary. Anxious DERM officers conducted a helicopter inspection during the flood and after the flood and were relieved to find the fence appeared to have withstood the force of the flood, and that most of the wombat burrows appeared to be on elevated ground above the water level.
Fire: The threat of fire for wombats is not the fire itself - they are well protected in their deep burrow - it is the burning of their food. The mosaic of burned and unburned areas is therefore important.

Recovery Actions

Carrying a translocated wombat to a starter burrow at the Richard Underwood Nature Refuge Photo: DERM

A sedated wombat wearing a radio-tracking collar at Epping Forest National Park (Scientific) Photo: DERM

The management of northern hairy-nosed wombats at Epping Forest National Park (Scientific).

As the majority of the northern hairy-nosed wombats live in Epping Forest National Park (Scientific), this population is critical for the survival of the species. Therefore, the following management actions are undertaken to conserve the wombats and their habitat:

Research and monitoring of the wombats
Fire management
Maintenance of the predator-proof fence
Control of predators and competitors
Weed control

The Xstrata reintroduction project

There is a significant risk that one natural event such as fire or flood could wipe out the entire species at Epping Forest National Park (Scientific). Therefore, a second wombat colony was needed to minimise the risk of extinction. The reintroduction of wombats to a new site is a specific objective of the recovery plan for the northern hairy-nosed wombat Lasiorhinus kreftii 2004-2008.

Xstrata, a leading mining company has sponsored the reintroduction project as part of their Community Partnerships Program. The owners of Yarran Downs, Ed and Gabi Underwood have entered into a nature refuge agreement over the part of their property where the wombats have been reintroduced. Their nature refuge, the Richard Underwood Nature Refuge, was gazetted on the 27 November 2008 and protects about 105 hectares of eucalypt woodland on old river levees.

The reintroduction and management of wombats in the Richard Underwood Nature Refuge involves:

Management infrastructure
A predator-proof fence
Starter burrows
Feed and water stations
Wombat monitoring equipment, such as remote cameras tracking devices and weighing stations
Translocating wombats from Epping Forest National Park (Scientific) to the Richard Underwood Nature Refuge
Monitoring of the translocated wombats
Managing fire, weeds and predators

Further information on the management of the wombats and the project design at this site can be found on the web-page for the Xstrata reintroduction project, and by following our progress in the wombat diary.

How can you help northern hairy-nosed wombats?

Buy a T-shirt to spread the message

Further information

Free downloads

Download wombat games and puzzles, a fact sheet on the wombats of Australia, or a northern-hairy-nosed wombat poster.

Articles

On the evening of 2 March 2009, DERM Officers took TIME magazine photographer Warren Evans, his camera, and a spotlight on a mission to find the endangered northern hairy-nosed wombat holed up on Epping Forest National Park (Scientific) in central Queensland, Australia. What they saw was extraordinary.

TIME magazine - Wombat Love

Media releases

Recovery plan for the northern hairy-nosed wombat 2004-2008