--- title: "Australia’s northern hairy-nosed wombat grew from 35 animals in the early 1980s to more than 400 by 2024" url: https://badiyaa.com/northern-hairy-nosed-wombat-comeback/ published: 2026-11-10T07:00:00+00:00 modified: 2026-11-10T07:00:00+00:00 section: Pets & Animals publisher: Badiyaa --- # Australia’s northern hairy-nosed wombat grew from 35 animals in the early 1980s to more than 400 by 2024 The critically endangered yaminon now lives at three fenced sites in Queensland, grazes only two hours a day in summer and makes cube-shaped droppings. About a century ago the northern hairy-nosed wombat was written off as extinct. In the early 1980s, counters could find just 35 of them, all in one patch of eastern Australia. By June 2024 the species had passed 400 animals, spread across three sites, and it is now one of the clearest slow-motion comebacks in the mammal world. It is still among the rarest land mammals on Earth, listed as critically endangered both internationally and under Australian law. But the trend line points up, and the story of how it got there runs through a fence, a roll of sticky tape and a lot of grass. ## Meet the yaminon Also called the yaminon, the animal is one of three living wombat species. It shares the genus Lasiorhinus, Latin for “hairy nose,” with the southern hairy-nosed wombat; the common wombat sits in a separate genus. The name comes from the whiskery fur on its muzzle, which is broader than the common wombat’s, and its ears are longer and more pointed. Adults can reach about 35 cm (14 inches) tall and up to a meter (3.3 feet) long, and weigh as much as 40 kg (88 pounds). Females are slightly bigger than males because they carry an extra layer of fat. Eyesight is poor, so the wombat finds food mostly by smell, foraging at night and spending daylight in burrows that hold a steady temperature and humidity. As many as 10 wombats may share a burrow network. They are also, famously, the makers of cube-shaped droppings. Studies of the gut show that the elastic walls near the end of the large intestine shape the waste into cubes. ## A life measured in grass The diet is almost entirely native grasses, including black speargrass and golden beard grass, plus some roots. A low metabolic rate and good fat reserves let them go several days without eating. Even on a normal day they graze only about six hours in winter and two in summer, compared with at least 18 hours for a kangaroo of similar size. That thrift is part of their trouble. African buffel grass, brought in for cattle, crowds out the native grasses the wombats prefer, forcing them to walk farther for less food. ## How the comeback happened For decades the whole species lived in Epping Forest National Park in central Queensland, about 120 km (75 miles) northwest of the town of Clermont. A single population in a single place is one bad fire, flood or disease outbreak away from oblivion, and wild dogs were picking off animals. - **1930s:** about 30 wombats are found in a 3-square-kilometer range inside the park. - **Early 1980s:** only 35 are counted. - **Around 1993:** the Queensland government starts a formal recovery program. - **2000 to 2002:** a 2-meter-high predator-proof fence, about 20 km long, goes up around the wombats’ habitat. - **2003:** the population stands at 113, with only about 30 breeding females. - **2008 to 2009:** a second, fenced insurance colony starts at the Richard Underwood Nature Refuge near St George in southern Queensland. - **2021:** the count passes 300. - **2024:** a third site opens in the 2,800-hectare Powrunna State Forest, and the total passes 400, including 18 at the Underwood refuge and 15 newly moved to Powrunna. Researchers also learned to count the animals without catching them. In a 2006 study they stuck double-sided tape across burrow entrances to collect hair, then used DNA to identify individuals. The result was a surprise: roughly 2.25 males for every female in a population of about 113. ## What the numbers add up to From 113 animals in 2003 to more than 400 in 2024 is an increase of at least 287 wombats, or more than three and a half times the starting count, in 21 years. Spread evenly, that is about 14 extra wombats a year. That pace makes sense for an animal whose females have a single young at a time, carry it in the pouch for eight to nine months and wean it at around a year old. The recovery plan does not stop at three sites. Planners are aiming for a fourth population by 2041. ## Further reading - [Wikipedia: Northern hairy-nosed wombat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_hairy-nosed_wombat) *Illustrative image. Image: Andrew Katsis, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons* *This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by our Editorial Desk. [How we work](https://badiyaa.com/editorial-policy/).*