NORTHERN HAIRY-NOSED WOMBAT
( Lasiorhinus krefftii)

Description

The Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat is predominately brown-grey, or grey mottled with fawn, brown or black. It is distinguished from the Common Wombat by silky hair and longer ears.  It is a large heavily built marsupial 80-100cms long .

Wombats have short powerful forelimbs with strong, flattened claws for digging. They have poor eyesight but this is compensated by a highly developed sense of smell.

Conservation Status and Threats
The Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat is categorised as endangered. Only 62 animals survive. These are ageing and reproductive success is low. The rapid decline of this animal has been due, at least in part, to competition with such introduced grazing animals as the cattle, sheep and rabbits.

Distribution
In the 19th century this species was present in New South Wales. It now survives only in a small national park near Epping Forest Station in tropical Queensland. It prefers subtropical, semiarid woodland and grassland on sandy soil.

Diet
The main food is grasses and like the Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat, it feeds predominately on grasses and other herbage. As an adaptation to the high fibre content of this diet, the teeth are rootless and grow continuously throughout the wombat's life.  Wombats are nocturnal and will graze each night for 3-8 hours travelling 3-4 kms in search of food.

Reproduction
The reproductive biology is unknown. The species has never been bred in captivity. 


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