Northern Hairy Nosed Wombat - Lasiorhinus krefftii

Northern Hairy Nosed Wombat - Lasiorhinus krefftii (Owen, 1972).

IUCN STATUS CATEGORY Critically Endangered

HABITAT Flat, sandy, semi-arid grassland and eucalypt/acacia woodland with patches of closed scrub and a ground cover of native grasses.

GEOGRAPHICAL SPREAD Restricted to the area surrounding Epping Forest station, within the Epping Forest National Park, Queensland, Australia.

CURRENT POPULATION Approximately 65 individuals (Kennedy, 1992).

SIZE 100cm long.

WEIGHT 19 to 32kg (Nowak, 1991).

AVERAGE LIFE EXPECTANCY A captive specimen of the closely related Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat L. latifrons lived for 26 years and 6 months (Jones, 1982).

NORMAL DIET Predominantly grasses and other herbage.

NORMAL LIFESTYLE Lives in colonies. The Wombats occupy individual, single entrance burrows. Animals spend the day in a burrow, emerging at night to feed. Although Wombats appear to be quite slow they can run as fast as 40km per hour when disturbed (Strahan, 1983).

PREVIOUS GEOGRAPHICAL SPREAD Kennedy (1992) gives the former distribution of the Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat as follows: Wellington Caves, New South Wales (1869); Jerilderie, New South Wales (1884); Moonie River, Bullamon Plains & Balonne (near St George), Southern Queensland (between 1891 and 1900); and perhaps near Injune and Tambo in Queensland prior to 1900.

REASONS FOR DECLINE Competition with introduced grazing animals such as cattle, sheep and rabbits.

CURRENT THREATS Same as the reasons for decline.

CONSERVATION PROJECTS Lives within the Epping Forest National Park which is being kept free of cattle and fire. The IUCN/SSC Recovery plan aims to increase the population to a level sustainable by habitat in Epping Forest; establish populations within former range; relocation seems to be a viable option over 5 to 10 years. A research programme into Wombat behaviour, ecology, genetics and pasture ecology has been undertaken (Kennedy, 1992); results of this study will be applied to long-term management of the population. Relocation from Epping Forest is to be deferred until all available habitat is occupied. Almost all females are breeding and recruitment is taking place.

SPECIAL FEATURES One of only two species in the genus Lasiorhinus. The Northern Hairy Nosed Wombat was first identified from a fossil skull found in the Wellington Caves, New South Wales.

REFERENCES

Kennedy, M. (ed). 1992. Australasian Marsupials and Monotremes, An Action Plan for their Conservation. IUCN, Gland. pp 103.

Jones, M.L. 1982. Longevity of captive mammals. Zool. Garten. 52:113-28 (original not seen,Nowak, 1991).

Nowak, R.M. 1991. Walker's Mammals of the World. 5th ed. Vol.1. John Hopkins University Press, London. pp.66-67.

Strahan, R. 1983. The Australian Museum Complete Book of Australian Mammals. Angus & Robertson Publishers. London. pp.122.

Thornback, J & Jenkins, M. 1982. The IUCN Mammal Red Data Book Part 1. IUCN. Gland. pp 57-59.

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