Baby Wombat Joeys Pouch Happy
Wombats are marsupials with compact furry bodies. They have big round heads and sandy-gray-brown fur. In their native territory of Australia they are not a very visible marsupial as they are most active during the early morning or night and are shy. During the day they prefer to relax in the burrows and tunnels they dig because it is much cooler underground than in the hot sun.
Mating occurs in the late winter and females may only be interested in breeding for a very short period which can make captive breeding very difficult. The spring is the time of year when the females give birth, usually to a single offspring after about 20–30 days or so of pregnancy. The very tiny newborn does not do much at this point but relocate to the pouch and attach itself to a teat to continue with its early development. Being marsupials the mother has a well developed pouch where the young offspring can hang out for the first six or seven months. The mother’s pouch is well designed for the wombat and faces the back end of the animal. This is quite useful since the animal is such an avid digger that dirt may get into the pouch if it were facing the front of the animal where the claws are pumping away and the dirt is flying. After 15 months the joeys no longer need any milk and this should be the time of year when there is plenty of vegetation available for them to graze on and fill their bellies. That is the time when they really get out rumbling and stumbling, investigating and playing, and practice digging in the world as they learn to go out and find food. After 18-24 months they are full-blown adults ready to produce offspring themselves.
