{"id":38137,"date":"2024-04-26T14:02:20","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T12:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ccbd4c63-a588-4cf5-bd0b-e489c96ab3e8"},"modified":"2024-04-26T14:35:44","modified_gmt":"2024-04-26T12:35:44","slug":"baffling-yet-adorable-footage-of-a-tasmanian-wombat-foraging-in-the-ocean-has-scientists-stumped","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/baffling-yet-adorable-footage-of-a-tasmanian-wombat-foraging-in-the-ocean-has-scientists-stumped\/","title":{"rendered":"Baffling (yet adorable) footage of a Tasmanian wombat foraging in the ocean has scientists stumped"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"rssexcerpt\">Tourists were curious when they saw the marsupial appearing to drink seawater and eat aquatic plants. <\/p><p class=\"rssauthor\">By <\/p><p class=\"rssbyline\">Published: Friday, 26 April 2024 at 12:02 PM<\/p><hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/><?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\" standalone=\"yes\"?>\n<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><body><p>Tourists on a beach in Tasmania, Australia, were puzzled when they spotted a wombat wading in the ocean and appearing to drink seawater and eat aquatic plants. <\/p><p>They shared their footage with the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.wombatprotection.org.au\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Wombat Protection Society of Australia (WPSA)<\/a>\u00a0who are looking into what might be happening.\u00a0<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video controls=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2024\/04\/Video-of-a-wombat-foraging-in-the-ocean-in-Tasmania.mov\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Tourists capture the remarkable moment the wombat wades into the ocean. Credit: WPSA<\/figcaption><\/figure><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/mammals\/dwarf-rock-wallabies-have-a-powerful-bite\">\u201cIf I were a vegetable, I would not mess with a pygmy rock-wallaby&#8221;<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/why-kangaroos-have-a-pouch\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Why female kangaroos have pouches<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/mammals\/tasmanian-devil-facts\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Tasmanian devil: where does it get its devilish name?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-was-the-wombat-doing-in-the-ocean\">What was the wombat doing in the ocean?<\/h2><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/mammals\/wombat-facts\">Wombats<\/a>\u00a0are heavyset but adorable marsupials that live in Australia\u2019s grasslands, forests and mountains. They can grow to just under\u00a0one metre\u00a0(about the same as a medium-sized dog) and look a bit like a teddy bear that was sat on and squished. They\u2019re, perhaps, most well-known as being the only animal with cubed poop.\u00a0<\/p><p>It\u2019s not unknown for wombats to be found on beaches. One of the WPSA team often sees wombat footprints on her beach walks, says the charity in a Facebook\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/watch\/?v=467005382561856\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">post<\/a>. But foraging in the ocean is unusual.\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cWombats have been known to eat aquatic plants around riverbanks and dams but, until now, to our knowledge, it has not been recorded that they eat sea plants,\u201d says WPSA director Jen Mattingley.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">It\u2019s not unknown for wombats to be found on beaches but they&#8217;ve not been recorded eating sea plants before, say experts. Credit: WPSA<\/figcaption><\/figure><p>Some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.countryfile.com\/wildlife\/marine-life\/seaweed-types\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">seaweed<\/a> and aquatic plants contain lots of vitamins, minerals and nutrients so it could be that the animal is trying to supplement its diet.\u00a0<\/p><p>Although it looks like the wombat is drinking saltwater from the ocean, the WPSA think this is unlikely. One theory is that it\u2019s drinking from an area where freshwater is entering the sea.\u00a0<\/p><p>Another is explained by the unusual way these animals drink. \u201cWombats don\u2019t lap, instead they push their mouth into the water and, while standing very still, they silently suck\/syphon the water into their mouth,\u201d\u00a0says Mattingley. Because the wombat in the footage seems to be lapping at the water, the charity thinks it\u2019s more likely it is just tasting it.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1725\" height=\"1150\" src=\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/62\/2024\/04\/Wombat-on-a-beach.jpg\" alt=\"Wombat on a beach\" class=\"wp-image-99844\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Occasionally seen on beaches, wombats are more at home in Australia\u2019s grasslands, forests and mountains. Credit: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure><p>There are still many mysteries about the lives of wombats as these nocturnal animals live underground. That \u201cmakes observations and sightings more difficult,\u201d says\u00a0Mattingley.\u00a0<\/p><p>They also like cooler temperatures, usually below 20 degrees celsius. This is why Tasmanian wombats are more likely to be seen during the daytime, she says: \u201cThe temperature is usually much cooler than mainland Australia and wombats are sometimes seen in late afternoon.\u201d\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cWombats seen in daylight are usually sick with mange and sometimes nearly unrecognisable,\u201d she adds. Mange \u2013 a skin disease caused by a parasitic mite called\u00a0<em>sarcoptes scabiei<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 is a major threat to wombats.\u00a0<\/p><p>There are three species of wombat. While the\u00a0common wombat\u00a0is not currently threatened, the southern hairy-nosed wombat is\u00a0near-threatened\u00a0and the northern hairy-nosed wombat is\u00a0critically endangered, according to the IUCN.\u00a0<\/p><p>Members of the public who spot wombats \u2013 whether dead or alive \u2013 or their burrows can help research and protection efforts by uploading their recording to\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.womsat.org.au\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">WomSAT<\/a>: a database which has recorded over 23,000 wombat sightings to date.\u00a0<\/p><p><strong>More wildlife stories:<\/strong><\/p><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/fish\/red-handfish-rescued-in-tasmania\">There\u2019s a fish in Tasmania with hands instead of fins, and scientists are about to save it from extinction<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/fish\/lionfish-invasion-mediterranean-sea\">Venomous lionfish are invading the Mediterranean Sea<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/mammals\/western-quolls-seen-at-australian-wildlife-sanctuary\">Four super-rare quolls caught sneaking around Australian wildlife sanctuary<\/a><\/li><\/ul> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tourists were curious when they saw the marsupial appearing to drink seawater and eat aquatic plants. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":38138,"template":"","categories":[1,241],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/04\/baffling-yet-adorable-footage-of-a-tasmanian-wombat-foraging-in-the-ocean-has-scientists-stumped.jpg",1650,1100,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/04\/baffling-yet-adorable-footage-of-a-tasmanian-wombat-foraging-in-the-ocean-has-scientists-stumped-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/04\/baffling-yet-adorable-footage-of-a-tasmanian-wombat-foraging-in-the-ocean-has-scientists-stumped-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/04\/baffling-yet-adorable-footage-of-a-tasmanian-wombat-foraging-in-the-ocean-has-scientists-stumped-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/04\/baffling-yet-adorable-footage-of-a-tasmanian-wombat-foraging-in-the-ocean-has-scientists-stumped-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/04\/baffling-yet-adorable-footage-of-a-tasmanian-wombat-foraging-in-the-ocean-has-scientists-stumped-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/04\/baffling-yet-adorable-footage-of-a-tasmanian-wombat-foraging-in-the-ocean-has-scientists-stumped.jpg",1650,1100,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Tourists were curious when they saw the marsupial appearing to drink seawater and eat aquatic plants.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/38137"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}