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

General

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.

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