Cute Animal of the Day

Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat

Early in the 20th century it was thought that the Northern Hairy-nosed wombat was extinct, after the disappearance of the only two populations then known (one near St George in southern Queensland, the other near Jerilderie in New South Wales). Then, in the 1930s, a small population was discovered in what is now Epping Forest National Park in central Queensland. This population was in decline, and by 1982 there may have been only 30 or so animals left.

In that year cattle were removed to protect the wombat’s habitat. Monitoring the population to find out if this caused an increase in numbers was difficult. Northern Hairy-nosed Wombats are not only nocturnal, they are extremely shy, and therefore difficult to observe. A capture and release program in the late 1980s and early 1990s suggested a population size of about 63.

That study also showed that trapping to this extent caused significant disruption to the wombats, so a better census method was found. This involved collecting hairs on sticky tape at burrow entrances, and amplifying DNA to identify the individual wombats.

In 2000, the Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat became the first species to be censused from remotely collected genetic samples. The estimated population size was 113.