AUSTRALIA ZOO NEWS

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Animals:
Common Wombat

It's all smiles here at Australia Zoo, as we get ready to celebrate Wendy the Wombat's first birthday on Wednesday 19 January!

Wendy is one of our resident Common Wombats. She is bursting with character and you can often catch her getting up to cheeky antics. Wendy certainly takes after her father, Tonka who is renowned for getting up to mischief.

Even though she's turning one, Wendy still has lots of growing to do. At the moment Wendy weighs about 8kg, but when she is all grown up she should weigh around 27kg and be about one metre in length. Crikey!

A wombat's diet consists of mainly grass and plant roots and Wendy just love taste-testing all sorts of things, no matter if they are actually edible or not. On her birthday Wendy is bound to get spoilt by her keepers and may even get some of her favourite treat, sweet potato.

We have two species of wombat here at Australia Zoo, the Common Wombat and the Southern Hairy Nose Wombat. You can spot the difference between the two species by the shape of their nose. A Common Wombat has a similar looking nose to a koala, all leathery and with no fur, however the Southern Hairy Nose Wombat, as their name suggests, has a hairy nose which is more square in shape. Common Wombats also have stumpier legs and their fur can range in colour from blonde through to almost black, but Southern Wombats generally stay a grey/brown colour.

And best of all... you can adopt Wendy! By adopting any animal you will play an important role in wildlife conservation here at Australia Zoo, plus you will receive an awesome adoption pack full of goodies.

So, come on down to Australia Zoo on Wednesday 19 January and be sure to wish Wendy a very happy birthday.