Pet Wombats
Can I keep a wombat as a pet?
I’d love to have my very own pet wombat, but it’s not allowed—by my mom or the law. No wombat may be exported from Australia, and only licensed wildlife handlers may keep wombats in captivity, typically for a limited time if they are orphaned or injured. Even though baby wombats are adorable, adult wombats and their digging instincts are incredibly destructive.
Rub my tummy!
What does a wombat feel like?
Wombats’ fur ranges in color from sandy to brown, and from gray to black. The bare-nosed common wombat has coarse hair without an undercoat that some people describe as feeling like a horse. The southern hairy-nosed wombat has silky fur.
NO!
Can I pet a wild wombat?
Even though some wild wombats will let you get within a few meters as they peacefully munch grass, don’t even think about petting them. Wombats can bite, claw or bowl you over—and despite their chunky bodies, they move faster than humans.
Here’s a video of Ruby, a naughty pet wombat:
Wombat culture
In Aboriginal Dreamtime, a wombat was thought to be a creature of little value. Aborigines once hunted a rhinoceros-sized giant wombat and Australians even cooked up wombat stew, though now wombats are protected in nearly all of Australia.
The first English record of the animal’s name was in 1798; “whom-batt” comes from the Darug language. Many European settlers confused wombats with badgers, and thus Badger Creek, Victoria, and Badger Corner, Tasmania, were named. Oops.