I fell in love with wombats about two weeks ago on a JetBlu flight from NYC to Las Vegas. You see, JetBlue has DirectTV, which in turn has Animal Planet. (If any of you have watched Animal Planet then you can guess that I might be a sucker for practicly any of its shows.) After watching endless episodes of "The Planet's Funniest Animals" and "Animal Precinct", on came a show about a couple who rescue wombats out of the pouches of mother wombats who are killed by cars. I was smitten within 30 seconds.
Wombats are large (about the size of a short, fat Labrador or an extremely large English bulldog), nocturnal, herbivorous, burrowing marsupials that are native to the continent of Australia. The one above is a hairy-nosed wombat, which are more friendly than the common wombat (who has a "bald nose"). Although wombats have those pudgy, short little legs and round bellies, they are shockingly speedy—they can sustain bursts of 24 mph speeds for short distances.
I thought a wombat would be a perfect pet— until I saw this video. Now I think I'd just like to spend some time in Australia volunteering with the wombat-rescuing couple.
5 comments:
I want to see Lexi and the Wombat chase one another. I don't think Lexi can hit 24 mph.
Wes, you have all the makings of an outstanding James Bond villain, safe in your Icelandic steel and glass glacier palace, sitting in front of your credenza with a hairy nosed wombat on your lap, snapping pictures of Bond wrestling robotic anglepoise lamps.
Keep up the good work.
That's exactly the life I envision for myself.
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