What do wombats eat?
Wombats eat native Australian grasses and roots. It’s not a particularly nutritious diet, but wombats compensate with a slow digestive system and metabolism.
Koalas and kangaroos are the best known native Australian animals. But once you see a wombat, it’s hard to avoid making wombats your favourite Australian creature. They’re little furry tanks, snuffling around and often comically grumpy. Wombats have adorably cute faces, and tend to sleep in the most hilariously undignified positions.
Where do wombats live?
You’ll find wombats in several wildlife parks, including Featherdale in Sydney, the Blackbutt Reserve in Newcastle and Lone Pine in Brisbane. But wombats are quite hard to spot in the wild. They live across most green, forested areas of eastern and southern Australia, but they are nocturnal and live in burrows. So unless you happen to be looking for one near a forest around dusk, chances are you won’t see many wombats in the wild.
If you do find a wombat in the wild, chances are it will be eating. Wombats are grazers and spend between three and eight hours a night munching away.
What do wombats eat?
But what do wombats eat? Well, a wombat’s favourite foods are native Australian grasses. They’re especially big fans of tussock grass, but will also eat sedges and tree or shrub roots. They don’t worry too much about anything being tough, as wombats have sharp, continually-growing front teeth which can tear most plant life apart.
Wombat diet and digestive system
The wombat diet isn’t a particularly brilliant one, though. It’s high in fibre, sure, but low in protein and nutrition. This means a major focus of wombat life is conserving energy.
One way they do this is by having an unusually efficient digestive system. They keep most of the good stuff from the grasses, and it can take wombats up to 14 days to process a meal. Wombats also have an extraordinarily low metabolic rate. They really don’t need that many calories to keep their bodies functioning.
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