Meet Milly the wombat. Her favourite things are eating, sleeping and playing tricks on her keepers.
Milly is 14-years-old and calls the Ipswich Nature Centre home. She is a big wombat with a big personality to match.
Her first love is clumps of fresh native grass. Not cut mind you, no it has to be clumps. Her second love is digging huge holes.
Milly is super cute and looks like she would be sooo cuddly.
But back up girlfriend, Milly is not that type of girl, she likes her space. She can be a bit grumbly if you get too close.
However, she’s very inquisitive and likes to mess with her keepers while they clean her enclosure by knocking their buckets over and digging out the contents all over the yard.
She gets lots of enrichment to keep her busy like boxes filled with grass, natural items and novel items like her favourite gym ball. Another favourite activity is rummaging through a wheelie bin full of mulch and leaves.
Her burrow has a glass side so visitors can see her most of the time whether she is awake or not.
So head on down to the Ipswich Nature Centre and meet Milly. She can be found living the life of Riley, sleeping most of the day and eating all night.
Wombat Facts
There are three species of wombat: the common wombat, northern hairy-nosed wombat and southern hairy-nosed wombat. (Milly is a common wombat.)
The northern hairy-nosed wombat is Queensland’s most endangered mammal.
Wombats are also marsupials and have pouches that face to the rear of the bodies so they don’t fill up with dirt when they dig.
Wombats feed for an average of six hours a night in winter and two hours in summer.
Cool, humid burrows help wombats to conserve energy. By breathing moist air, they conserve moisture in hot conditions.
They are nocturnal animals and are active at night and sleep up to 16 hours a day.
Wombats have cubed shaped droppings. The flat sides keep the droppings from falling off the tops of logs and rocks where they leave them as territorial signposts.
An enrichment box of Milly’s favourite grass.
Ipswich Nature Centre is open Tuesday to Sunday from 9.30am – 4pm.
Entry is free but gold coin donations are accepted. As you leave, there is a box on the fence.
Ipswich Nature Centre is located in Queens Park on Goleby Avenue, Ipswich.
Ipswich Nature Centre features a range of Australian wildlife, lush landscaped gardens and
exhibits that have been recreated to represent local bushland and flora communities.
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