Hugging a Wombat in Melbourne

The very first thing the landlady asked us when we checked into the Airbnb in Yarra Valley on 25 March was: "Do you like to hug a wombat?".

Soon after, we were led into her living room and we immediately caught sight of the well "domesticated" wombat intermingled with their pet dogs. The landlady told us the wombat was found years ago as a baby wombat cuddled next to her dead mother. She took the baby wombat back home and raised her as a pet.

Holding a wombat is liked holding a 20-Kg rat. Unlike rat, its tail is small and stubby. Its rodent-like front teeth are ever active and would nibble on anything it thinks is edible. Mind you, the nibbling can be unbearable at times. These are powerful front teeth capable of carving out burrows through hard subsoil strata.

In late evening, we have sighted wombats roaming around the airbnb compound. The many burrows we found in the compound further confirmed our sighting.

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Later on in our tour of Tasmania, we learnt something peculiar about wombat at the Bonorung Wildlife Sanctuary in Hobart. Despite having round anuses, this marsupial excretes cube-shaped poops rather than the normal pellets or tubular coil droppings common among all mammals. This trait has kept scientists baffled and perplexed. One theory is that wombats excrete cubes so as to stack them up to mark their territory!

Courtesy from web site