WOMBATS?!?
Is anyone concerned over the plight of the critically endangered Australian Northern Hairy Nosed Wombat besides the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Geneva Switzerland? Probably, but first let's take a closer look at the lowly wombat.
Wombats appear rather insignificant: small burrowing bearlike marsupials, mammals who nurse their young in pouches, like kangaroo and opposum. They're not social or popular, rather reclusive, nocturnal, weigh 55 lbs, measure 40 inches, nor cute and cuddly like the photogenic koala. The rarest of all the common wombats is the Northern Hairy Nosed variety; only a 150 or so remain. It's relegated to a 3 square kilometer patch in the east-central Queensland. Less than two hundred people have ever seen one as none exist in captivity.
The IUCN, founded in 1948 is the oldest and largest global environmental and sustainable development network. Operating in 160 countries, it has tallied 5,487 mammalian species on earth, sky and sea. Of those, 1,141 are said to be seriously threatened. As there is insufficient evidence on 800, the figure could be significantly higher. Grim news indeed.
But true grimness is IUCN's Red List, a report of the species with the bleakest of futures: critically endangered, possibly extinct, yet not confirmed. The current report lists 29 species that are close to or near extinction. Besides Northern Hairy Nosed Wombats, the Red List also includes the Caspian Seal, Iberian Lynx, Tasmanian Devil and Cuba's Little Earth Hutia, a rodent not seen in over forty years.
So the shy little reclusive nocturnal Northern Hairy Nosed wombat is now a rather significant litmus test. We can sit and wait or we can see and do. It's our choice.
Please visit IUCN.org to see what you can do today.
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