Jackie French - The Secret World of Wombats

To Smudge, Fudge, Pudge, Chocolate, Gabby, Bad Bart, Peanut, Mothball, Golden Dragon, Two-and-a-half, Pretty Face, Flat White, Big Paws, Grunter, Totally Confused, Whiskers, Roadbat, even Moriartyand all the others.

Thank you for so many years, and a glimpse into another universe.

D own under your feet is a secret world. There are underground tunnels, and hidden rooms, and sleeping animals waiting for the night.

Its the world of wombats.

Most people have only seen wombats half asleep in zoos or dead by the side of the road. You wont have seen the secret side of wombatswombat grins and the wombat games they play. You wont know just how fascinating wombats are, nor such things as:

Why wombats bite each others bums!

How wombats talk to each other with their wombat droppings!

How baby wombats manage not to go to the toilet in their mothers pouch!

And how singing is a wonderful way to get really close to a wombat.

I met my first wombat more than thirty years ago. His name was Smudge, and we became friends. In those days I was living mostly by myself in the bushsomehow when you live on your own away from other people its easier to become close to a wild animal. In many ways I think Smudge was the closest friend I have ever had.

Ive lived with many wild wombats since then and Ive looked after orphaned baby wombats and studied the way wombats live. Wombats are so very, very different from people. Wombats dont see the world, they smell it. If you say bad dog to a dog it gets embarrassed. Wombats dont do embarrassed. If you say bad wombat to a wombat it will ignore you, or bite your ankle.

Sometimes I think knowing wombats is as close as Ill ever come to meeting an alienwombats are creatures so different from us that it takes decades to understand the way they think and live.

A wombat can be one of the cuddliest animals in the universe once it gets to know you. A baby wombat lives in a pouch, which is like being cuddled twenty-four hours a day. I was sitting beside the vegetable garden early this morning sorting out basil plants and suddenly whump! I had a wombat on my lap.

It was Mothball, who we helped to raise from a baby. Now she weighs thirty kilograms, has teeth like a tyrannosaurus and a cloud of dust rises every time you pat her. And she pongs! But how can you not hug a lonely wombat? Besides, if I didnt stop to hug her shed bite my bum next time I bent down to weed. p.s. Dont try this with a wombat who isnt used to people.

I hope the information in this book helps you to understand the strange and wonderful world of wombatsand to love them too.

Are you a wombat?

Are you covered in fur? No? Then you are definitely not a wombat, unless you are a bald wombat.

Do you have a large, egg-shaped, brown nose? Yes? Then you might be a wombat. (Or a kid who has fallen into the Vegemite jar.)

Do you mostly come out at night? Yes? Then you might be a wombat. (Or a vampire.)

Do you mostly eat grass? (Vampires hardly ever eat grass.)

Do you have tiny eyes, little ears and an even smaller tail? Do you eat roots and sedges and tussocks?

Do you have a pouch, if youre a girl? Have you got long claws and longer whiskers, and do you live in a hole in the ground?

If youve answered yes to all those questions, you are a wombat! (Or else youre a really weird kid!)