Following the Wombat Poo Trail

Wombat poo and flower

Over the years I’ve developed a fascination for wombat poo. Nothing weird, more as a subject matter for my camera as opposed to collecting them for things like making paper with (which is apparently done commercially by some mob down in Tassie!) My native Victoria is home to many thousands of wombats and this amiable ambling marsupial is a common sight when visiting our parks and reserves. There are a few things about wombat poo that make it so interesting. Firstly, the poo is essentially square. That’s right, a fresh poo is pretty much cube-shaped. It boggles my mind that somehow a wombat’s intestine can knock out square-shaped poos. Also, wombats love to do their poos on top of things. On top of stones, logs, mounds and even low fence palings. Which is why they need to have their poos square-shaped – so they don’t roll away! Wombats pump out between 80 and 100 of these marvelous marshmellow-sized wonders each night. Not a bad effort. They place them in conspicuous positions to tell other wombats that this is my place so stay well away. Over time the poos melt back into the bush, back into the grass from whence they came. HERE is a bunch of my wombat poo pics (linked to my SmugMug site) to browse through – if you are so inclined…

By Glenn Tempest

Glenn is an accomplished adventure writer and photographer and has authored a number of popular bushwalking and rockclimbing guidebooks. Glenn is the big kahuna at Open Spaces and lives in Natimuk (next to Mt Arapiles and the Grampians) with his partner Karen and two Burmese cats, Sushi and Pinot.

1 comment

  1. This is hilarious!

    The amount of dedication you put in eternalizing wombat poo is admireable. But I have to say… The more I look at it, the less weird I find your obsession :p

    I should stop looking. But… I can’t..

    *10 minutes later*

    In any case, you’re a connoisseur, sir. A true one 😉

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