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Simon Hampel

Suzie the Wombat - 1999

Suzie the Wombat - 1999
Simon Hampel, 24 Jul 2008
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    • snowleopard
      The wombat is pretending to be cute while hiding its bloodthirsty intentions...just like the white rabbit in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
    • Jarkari
      You hit the nail on the head there. she used to love giving a good bite.
    • Hix
      Most handraised wombats are like that. At around 11 months of age they decide there life's ambition is to amputate every human foot they see at the ankle. When they're at the size of suzie above, they wait until anything fleshy is within biting range.

      Compared to the body size, wonbats have the largest brain of almost any mammal. but they look stupid and naive, and they know it. They pretend to be stupid and naive so they can get away with anything.
    • DavidBrown
      I wonder how many people the giant wombat diprotodont critters took out before the humans got the upper-hand and wiped them out?
    • Hix
      As Diprotodon was considered to be vegetarian, they would have only taken out humans in the same way a cow or rhino might - by trampling them.

      And though Diprotodon was related to the wombats and was wombat-like, it wasn't technically a wombat and didn't dig a burrow. The giant Phascolonus gigas was the largest wombat, and was the largest creature to ever dig burrows.

      If I lived back in those days I'd be more worried about the carnivorous kangaroo Propleopus ocillans and the aptly named Demon Duck of Doom Bullockornis planei.
    • Chlidonias
      an interesting thing about common wombats is that their droppings are almost cube-shaped. You can just make that out in this photo. The theory I have heard is that it is because they deposit them upon logs as territorial markings, and the shape prevents them rolling off.
    • Chlidonias
      if you were living back when Bullockornis roamed the Earth you'd have been pretty lonely because you'd have been the only human on the planet! :p

      However Genyornis newtoni was still kicking around when the first humans arrived in Australia, and that was a jolly big bird too.
    • Hix
      I think if I was living a couple of hundred years ago I'd still be pretty lonely! I'm not much for socialising.
    • TeaLovingDave
      No love - or indeed fear - for the marsupial lion Thylacoleo carnifex?
    • Hix
      Nope. Big teeth, really fascinating dentition, but not that scary. :p
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  • Category:
    Taronga Western Plains Zoo
    Uploaded By:
    Simon Hampel
    Date:
    24 Jul 2008
    View Count:
    2,106
    Comment Count:
    14