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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 46(2)

Death of a wombat†

Matt Gaughwin A *
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Department of Public Health, University of Adelaide, North Terrace, Adelaide, Australia.

* Correspondence to: cairnt2@gmail.com

Handling Editor: Ross Goldingay

Australian Mammalogy 46, AM23035 https://doi.org/10.1071/AM23035
Submitted: 13 July 2023  Accepted: 22 December 2023  Published: 19 January 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the Australian Mammal Society.

Abstract

There are no detailed descriptions of deaths in species of marsupials in the scientific literature, nor of their responses to dead conspecifics. A camera trap captured the death of a southern hairy-nosed wombat (Lasiorhinus latifrons) and the responses of other wombats to its body. The emaciated wombat lay down and died over 2–3 h near a burrow. In the following months, its body was inspected 22 times by at least four wombats. It is unclear whether the wombats purposefully visited the dead wombat. Inspecting the body was likely to be related to encountering the dead wombat and being stimulated to investigate it.

Keywords: behaviour, Brookfield Conservation Park, dead conspecifics, death response, marsupial, Murray Mallee, Southern hairy-nosed wombat, thanatology, Vombatidae.

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