Ernie Westfall, age 16, of Bentree, W, Va., fZr his question:
What is a worabat?
The Australians sometimes call him a badger because he is such a great digger of tunnels. But the furry charmer is betted known as the wombat. The name wombat was borrowed from the language of the original bushmen of Australia. This seems only fair, because the wo,mbat and his relatives are also original natives of Australia and nearby islands.
You might mistake the wombat for a chubby bear about four feet long. He humps his back and stands on four short, sturdy legs and his furry feet are fitted with strong, curving claws. His stubby tall is too small to mention and his shaggy coat may be almost black, light brown.
A pair of small, round ears sit widely separated on his rather large head and his eyes are often sleepy. He wears a moustache of stiff whiskers and the mast cowman member of the wombat family.
The sharp claws are his digging tools. As a rule, he digs a tunnel about fifteen feet long and at the end of the tunnel he makes a cozy nest for resting and sleeping. Sometimes a wombat may dig his tunnel fifty or even a hundred feet long. He leaves his underground home after sundown and returns before morning. The wombat is a daytime sleeper.
At night the gentle creature forages for grasses and roots and sometimes he nibbles a meal from the bark of a tree. He is a strict vegetarian and ho has two buck teeth which continue to grow all his life. In this feature he resembles the ratty, rodent family. But the wombat is not a rodent. He is classed as a marsupial which makes him cousin to the cuddly koala and the high stepping kangaroo.
These wonderful animals are mammals which give birth to live babies and feed them on mother's milk but for weeks and often months, the small and helpless youngsters are carried around in a pouch on Mama’s stomach. Most native animals of Australia are marsupials. The wombat and his close cousins live in southeastern Australia, Tasmania and a few nearby islands. The parents live in separate burrows and Junior is born between April and June. His babyhood is spent in Mama's fur. lined pouch and, if all goes well, he may grow up to enjoy thirty birthdays.
In character, the wombat does not resemble the clownish bear at all. He makes a gentle pet. He is always ready to give a little more kindness than he gets. He likes to be cuddled and, though he has very little to say, he is quite a smart animal. The furry charmer can utter only a gruff cough or a throaty growl.