The wombat is another of the interesting animals found in Australia. It is a marsupial, which means the mothers carry their babies around in pouches until they are able to fend for themselves. With most marsupials, like the kangaroo, this pouch is on the front of the mother’s body, but with the wombat it is on her back. It would seem the Creator did this so that in her frequent digging of burrows she does not throw dirt into the pouch or on the little one inside it.
Wombats, waddling around, are chubby and roly-poly like a bear cub, which they resemble in many ways. Adults are from two to three feet long and may weigh eighty pounds. Their plentiful fur is most often brown, but some have gray, yellowish and some black. They have rather broad heads with snouts like a pig, a very small tail, strong legs and claws. They also have sharp teeth for gathering grass, roots and bark for food, which is done mostly at night. They really prefer to loaf in the early morning and then retire to their burrows to curl up and sleep the rest of the day.
Babies are as tiny as mice at birth and immediately crawl into the mother’s pouch where they develop for about six months. When the mother walks about, her baby may be seen poking its head out, watching where they are going.
One species which lives in the southern forests and grasslands of Australia and nearby islands, has the name hairy-nosed and likes living together in large colonies. Their hair is silky and with their long ears and furry muzzles they are rather cute.
A more common one has the name naked-nosed. This one has much coarser hair, is larger, has short ears and a leathery nose free of fur. These prefer living in smaller groups.
All wombats, like badgers, are powerful and tough for their size. They live in burrows, many of which interlock with several openings. They will frequently move from one burrow to another, perhaps doing this to keep their enemies from knowing exactly where they nest. They are another good example of interesting animals which God created and still cares for.
The pouches of marsupials are another example of how all animals have been created for their individual way of life. This way of life has continued “after their kind” ever since God said “Let the earth bring forth the... beast of the earth after his kind.” Genesis 1:2424And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. (Genesis 1:24). This includes the fact that a dirt-digging marsupial like the wombat was always to have its pouch on its back, in contrast to the others having theirs on the front. Don’t listen to evolutionists who deny God’s creation and teach that these things just gradually happened over millions of years’ time. The Lord God did not create that way!
ML-09/29/1985