page_title: Southern hairy-nosed wombat
section_title: Burrow system and activities
hierarchical_section_title: Southern hairy-nosed wombat / Biology and ecology / Burrow system and activities
caption_attribution_description: Description: Wombat sleeping in a tunnel at Melbourne Zoo. Author: Angela Beesley
context_page_description: The southern hairy-nosed wombat is one of three extant species of wombats. It is found in scattered areas of semiarid scrub and mallee from the eastern Nullarbor Plain to the New South Wales border area. It is the smallest of all three wombat species. The young often do not survive dry seasons. It is the state animal of South Australia.
  Among the oldest southern hairy-nosed wombats ever documented were a male and a female from Brookfield Zoo just outside Chicago. Their names were Carver, who lived to be 34, and his mother, Vicky, who lived to be 24. In South Australia in 2010, a domesticated wombat named Wally was also reported as having reached the age of 34. Hamlet, a wombat at the Toronto Zoo, similarly died at age 34.
context_section_description: Southern hairy-nosed wombats dig and live in burrows which they connect into warrens with many entrances. These warrens are their prime refuges and are shared by up to 10 individuals. A wombat digs with its fore claws while sitting up. It leaves its new burrow backwards and pushes out soil with all its paws. The central warren is surrounded by a circle of small, simple burrows 100–150 m from it. The small burrows along the outer edges is where young wombats go when they are displaced from the central warren. Wombats may favour a certain burrow and not share it with others. However, there is no monopolization of burrows. Wombats move between burrows and even warrens. Male wombats are territorial towards wombats from other warrens, possibly to defend food resources and the warren refuges.  Trails of droppings connect the burrows. The males also mark their territory with anal scent secretions by rubbing their backs and rumps on objects. Fights between males over territories or mates do occur and involve bites to the ears, flanks, or rumps.  Also, a dominance hierarchy exists among males.
  The burrows of a southern hairy-nosed wombat can have air temperatures around of 14 °C in midwinter to 26 °C in midsummer, the wombat's preferred thermo-neutral zone, while the ambient temperatures outside range from down to around 2 °C in Winter and up to 36 °C or above during Summer. Warrens can make surface conditions in habitats of low humidity and high temperatures better for the wombat. A wombat retires deep in the burrow after foraging. The next night, the wombat moves to the entrance to check if conditions are right before emerging again. In the evening, wombats leave their burrows as the ambient temperature and burrow temperature are the same. In the early morning, when the surface temperature is lower, they retire.
caption: Wombats sleeping in a tunnel at Melbourne Zoo.
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