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BHL Book Feature: Gould’s Mammals of Australia

It’s #WombatWednesday! Who wouldn’t love that face of the Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat (Lasiorhinus latifrons)? This week, we are featuring The Mammals of Australia, Vol. 1 (1863) by John Gould, which features many of Australia’s unique mammals, like marsupials and monotremes.

John Gould (1804-1881) was first and foremost an ornithologist, and he was a prolific and accomplished publisher. According to the Australian Museum, Gould “produced 21 titles, 15 of which were folio sets consisting of 49 volumes containing 2999 unique plates.” The majority of these works were about birds, but he did publish a monograph on kangaroos, and a three-volume series on Australian mammals, the first volume of which is our feature this week.

Australia has three extant species of wombats: southern hairy-nosed, northern hairy-nosed, and coarse-haired (or common). Gould featured two of these species; the southern hairy-nosed wombat (featured above and below).

This illustration was done by Josef Wolf (1820-1899) and Henry Constantine Richter (1821-1902). Our featured illustration was done by Richter.

The other wombat species Gould featured was the Common, or Coarse-Haired Wombat (Vombatus ursinus). The one above and the one below were done by Gould and Richter.

Wombats are nocturnal herbivores that live in burrows. After these marsupials give birth, their babies crawl into the mother’s pouch and remain there until 8 to 10 months old. They remain with their mothers for another several months. Learn more about wombats with thanks to the Australia Zoo!