Register      Login
Australian Mammalogy Australian Mammalogy Society
Journal of the Australian Mammal Society
Shopping Cart: ( empty )
You are here: Home > Journals > AM > AM23035
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.

References

Anderson, J. R. (2020). Responses to death and dying: primates and other mammals. Primates 61, 1-7.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

Anderson, J. R., Biro, D., and Pettitt, P. (2018). Evolutionary thanatology. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 373(1754), 20170262.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

Gaughwin, M. D. (1981). Socio-ecology of the hairy-nosed wombat (Lasiorhinus latifrons) in the Blanche Town region of South Australia. PhD thesis, University of Adelaide, Adelaide.

Gaughwin, M., Breed, W., and Wells, R. T. (1998). Seasonal reproduction in a population of Southern hairy-nosed wombats Lasiorhinus latifrons in the Blanchetown region of South Australia. In ‘Wombats’. (Eds R. T. Wells, P. A. Pridmore.) pp. 109–112. (Surrey Beatty and Sons Pty Limited: Sydney.)

Goldenberg, S. Z., and Wittemyer, G. (2020). Elephant behavior toward the dead: A review and insights from field observations. Primates 61, 119-128.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

Gonçalves, A., and Biro, D. (2018). Comparative thanatology, an integrative approach: exploring sensory/cognitive aspects of death recognition in vertebrates and invertebrates. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 373, 20170263.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

McComb, K., Baker, L., and Moss, C. (2006). African elephants show high levels of interest in the skulls and ivory of their own species. Biology Letters 2(1), 26-28.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Parker, A., and Dagnall, N. (2020). Eye-closure & the retrieval of item-specific information in recognition memory. Consciousness and Cognition 77, 102858.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

Taylor, G K. (1998). A long-term population study of the Southern Hairy-nosed wombat Lasiorhinus latifrons at Moorunde Wildlife Reserve. In ‘Wombats’. (Eds R. T. Wells, P. A. Pridmore.) pp. 198–205. (Surrey Beatty and Sons Pty Limited: Sydney.)

Walker, F. M., Upton, J. R., Sobek, C. J., Taggart, D. A., and Gaughwin, M. D. (2020). Genetic monitoring of southern hairy-nosed wombats over two decades reveals that individuals can live for at least 18 years in the same warrens. Australian Mammalogy 43(1), 22-29.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Wells, R. T. (1978). Thermoregulation and activity rhythms in the hairly-nosed wombats, Laisorhinus latifrons (Owen), (Vombatidae). Australian Journal of Zoology 26(4), 639-651.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |