The wombat is a round, stocky, barrel-shaped mammal that inhabits many parts of Australia. It looks like a small bear.
Wombats are marsupials.
This means the female wombat, like the kangaroo and wallaby, has an external pouch in which she carries her young. Even though wombats and kangaroos look nothing alike, some evolutionists believe they evolved from the same basic possum-like creatures. One major difference between kangaroos and wombats is that the wombat's pouch opens backwards, yet the kangaroo's does not. Kangaroos do not dig tunnels. If the wombat had a forward-opening pouch like the kangaroo does, its pouch could clog up with soil while it was excavating.