Come and join me to celebrate Wombat Day!
We'll meet in the carpark of Netley Abbey to chat about all things geocaching and raise our tea and coffee mugs to the wombat - please bring your own flask!
Entry to the Abbey is free. If you are new to geocaching, come and ask us about our crazy hobby. Maybe you can get a few clues for those tricky puzzles too
Bring trackables for exchanging or discovering, but please be aware that I can only accept small items which will fit in my box (a 1 litre ex-ice cream tub) with the lid one. If you are wanting to move on something larger, please make arrangements with another cacher.
Some facts about wombats:
1. Speedy Gonzales
These furry marsupials sure are stocky, but don’t let that fool you! They can run at speeds of up to 40 kilometres per hour, which is just under retired sprinter Usain Bolt’s fastest recorded speed!
2. State emblem superstars
The southern hairy-nosed wombat is the state fauna emblem of South Australia. They are found in the south-east of Western Australia and in southern South Australia.
3. The cube-poo champion
You’ll never mistake a wombat poo for any other animal’s, because wombats are famous for doing cube-shaped poo – pumping out around 100 of these a day. Long story short, it’s all to do with their very slow digestive process.
4. Backwards pouch, forward thinking
As a marsupial, the southern hairy-nosed wombat has a backwards facing pouch where the young develop. The direction of the pouch means the joey is protected from dirt if the mother is digging. How convenient is that!
5. Built for burrowing
Wombats have a strong, stocky build with short legs and large front feet. Their feet have flattened claws and five digits. The second and third toes of their hind feet are fused and have a double claw used for grooming.
6. Joey life 101
Wombats usually give birth to a single joey, which is blind and hairless and weighs about 2 grams. It crawls into its mother’s pouch and attaches to one of its mum’s two teats, which will swell around the joey’s mouth, fixing it to the teat so it doesn’t fall out of the pouch. The joey stays in the pouch for 8 to 9 months. After emerging it will still suckle but also start eating solid food, and will stay with its mother for another year or more.
7. Wombat wisdom
A group of wombats is called a ‘wisdom of wombats’ a ‘mob of wombats’ or a ‘colony of wombats’. The name wombat comes from the Darug language, spoken by the Traditional Owners of Sydney.
8. Blinky Bill's cousin
Wombats closest relatives are koalas – if you check out their noses you’ll see they are pretty similar. Unlike koalas though, which sit upright, wombats are horizontal and their mammalian spine is designed to be supported at the shoulders and hips by their legs. Because of their horizontal structure, they have far fewer spinal issues than koalas and humans.
9. Olympic high-jumpers
Believe it or not, wombats can jump! Some have been known to jump over metre-high fences!
10. A true blue TV star
Fatso the Wombat, who starred in television series ‘A Country Practice’, was played by three different wombats named ‘Fatso’, ‘George’ and ‘Garth’.
(source: https://www.environment.sa.gov.au/goodliving)