Wombats (Vombatus and Lasiorhinus spp.) Fact Sheet: Diet & Feeding

• Grazing herbivores (Barboza 1993; Jackson 2003)
  • Variety of grasses, sedges, forbs, roots, and bulbs, based on availability
  • Diet high in fiber, low in nitrogen
  • Quantity/quality of food affected by seasonal variations, small home ranges
  • Video - northern hairy-nosed wombat grazing (DEHP 2012)
• Feeding range (Horsup 2004; Hume 1999)
  • Common wombat - in forests/pastures through about 14 ha home range
    • Forage further from burrows than other species,
  • Northern hairy-nosed wombat - about 6 ha core feeding range
  • Southern hairy-nosed wombat - forage close to warren, within about 4 ha home range
    • Produce circular "lawn" or grazing halo around warren
• Water - majority obtained from food (Wells & Green 1998)

• Common wombat (Hume 1999; Jackson 2003)
  • Primarily: perennial grasses
    • Poa species (tussock grass) - woodlands
    • Stipa species (spear grass) - woodlands
    • Themeda australis (kangaroo grass) - open areas
    • Danthonia penicillata (wallaby grass) - open areas
  • Also: cultivated oat crops
  • In periods of shortage:
    • Carex species (sedges)
    • Lomandra species (rushes)
• Northern hairy-nosed wombat (Horsup 2004; Hume 1999)
  • Primarily: perennial grasses
    • Aristida species (three-awned grasses)
    • Enneapogon lindleyanus species (bottlewasher grasses)
    • Cenchrus ciliaris(buffel grass)
      • Introduced, becoming a dominant grass in species range
  • Also: Fimbristylis dichotoma (sedge)
• Southern hairy-nosed wombat (Hume 1999)
  • Primarily: perennial grasses
    • Especially Stipa nida (spear grass)
  • During severe drought: broader diet
    • More forbs/dicots in grasslands, woody shrubs in shrublands/woodlands

Wombats are the only large, burrowing, herbivorous mammal.

Other burrowing mammals eat insects.

Image credit: © San Diego Zoo Global. All rights reserved.

Horsup & Johnson (2008)
Hume (1999)
Jackson (2003)
Triggs (1996)
Wells & Green (1998)