
Consider the Wombat - hoffmannesque
https://www.lrb.co.uk/v40/n19/katherine-rundell/consider-the-wombat
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DanBC
It's good to hear numbers of Northern Hairy Nose wombats are picking up. There
was a dingo attack (maybe a single dingo) that wiped out 10% of the entire
population in 2002.

This site has a lote of information about the Northern Hairy Nose wombat.
[https://www.ehp.qld.gov.au/wildlife/threatened-
species/endan...](https://www.ehp.qld.gov.au/wildlife/threatened-
species/endangered/northern_hairynosed_wombat/)

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dpflug
Having just found the Digger comic, it's amusing to see this come up. Sad to
hear they're so endangered.

[http://diggercomic.com/blog/2007/02/01/wombat1-gnorf/](http://diggercomic.com/blog/2007/02/01/wombat1-gnorf/)

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jpatokal
They're not -- the common wombat is, true to its name, still very common, and
it's only the northern hairy-nosed wombat that's endangered.

They are, however, all now protected from hunting, so wombat hams no longer
feature on Australian menus.

~~~
update
hm, the article says the opposite about the common wombat.

> Now, despite its name, the common wombat is no longer common. Overgrazing
> and the destruction of their natural habitat has caused a sharp drop in
> their numbers; all species of wombat are now protected, and the northern
> hairy-nosed wombat is critically endangered.

~~~
jpatokal
Yes, that's what the article says, but the IUCN disagrees:
[http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/40556/0](http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/40556/0)

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wemdyjreichert
Thank you, Mr. Belson. But you're still fired.

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mothsonasloth
Consider the Elephant

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falsedan
Can’t believe this article missed the most delightful factoid regarding
wombats’ cubic poo.

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jimmcslim
ODE TO THE WOMBAT — Anon.

As you pound along the track

Eyes wide open and ears pinned back

You may have noticed those queer square turds

And thought if not expressed in words

The pain of such defecation

Baffles the imagination

But it ain’t done to entertain us

The wombat has an oblong anus

So if at night you hear pained cries

Outside your tent, feel no surprise

With eyes shut tight, teeth clenched with pain

A wombat’s gone and crapped again!

(The ‘cubic poo’ is such a feature of the Overland Track in Tasmania’s Cradle
Mountain National Park it has inspired the above poem... I originally saw it
posted on the walls of a drop toilet at a campsite on the track)

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YeGoblynQueenne
>> He bought a toucan, which he trained to ride a llama.

OK.

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selljamhere
I always think back to Ze Frank’s “True Facts”:
[https://youtu.be/gNqQL-1gZF8](https://youtu.be/gNqQL-1gZF8)

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almostvindiesel
The what?

