Backpacking Addict
I came across it this other day as I was going through some notes. It’s sketches of mine of a live wombat. I was in Australia visiting the parents, I spent a day in a little sanctuary hanging out with odd looking animals, taking photos, drawing and having one way conversations with them when no one was looking.
I lectured this wombat how he’s probably one of the most useless animals in the world as it wouldn’t have survived with predators, and told him how previously about 60 000 B.C.E (Before Common Era) his species as well as nearly all the famous Australian animals were two to three times the size they are today.
Known as Mega-Fauna they became extinct due to a combination of weather change, onset of drought and predation by humans plus the advent of fire farming techniques of bushing burning as a way to cultivate edible crops, trapping the bigger animals who couldn’t run as fast, precipitating their demise.
I also told him he was really cute and if it wasn’t his vicious paws I would probably climb the fence and give him a hug. He of course was extra bored with his own place in evolution much like most humans and went off to sleep, so I sketched instead.
Sigh.. I was disappointed once again for it proved no one is interested in my vast knowledge on Australian Archeology not even the species involved.
If it wasn’t for Glutter I wouldn’t know what to do with stuff like that, coz I am a purveyor of useless facts about silly looking animals.
Here is another of my odd looking animal posts: Banana Slugs.
click to enlarge
Yan Sham-Shackleton Online 
See? no comments. No one is ever interested in this stuff. Not even if I try to make it funny and add a sketch of the wombat.. sigh…
LikeLike
Yours is a very charming sketch of a wombat.
LikeLike
You draw a far better wombat than Prince William. (The photo is down there a bit…scroll away).
LikeLike
Thank you both. Prince Willams is rather bad. I can’t add it to the comments for some reason.
LikeLike
awww, how cute!
Wombats are my favourite animal,and we have plenty of bizaare ones here down under. It reminds of a few years ago, I went camping with friends at a place called Wilson’s promontory. It’s kind of like a national park / camping area, really beautiful place and we went down to the beach at night and as we were walking along up by some small dunes, well away from the water, we saw some dark shapes moving about and they turned out to be a small group of wombats trundling around, enjoying the night air! Didn’t get too close to them as they were pretty big but I was really suprised at seeing them in the wild like that, especially near a beach! I also got to see my first live Kangaroo in the wild too on the same trip (as opposed to the dead ones we saw on the side of the road on the way there).
They might be the most useless animals in the world but I think they’re cool! 🙂
LikeLike
I went to a sanctuary while I was visiting Australia with the expressed purpose of seeing wombat, except they were all asleep when I got there :(. However, on the way back to the big city, we saw a wild wombat grazing in some farmer’s field. I did a wild crazy-assed baboon u-turn in our rental car and pulled over so my boyfriend and I could gawk at it. The wombat saw us and started running away. He was pretty mangy, and had many hairless patches as well as crusty eyes and a scabby-looking nose. Wild animals would have you believe they live the glamorous high life, but I know the truth.
LikeLike
You two are both nuts… 🙂
Maybe I should proclaim myself a wombat too, coz it seems like I live a glamourous life, but I also know the truth… sigh..
Yan
LikeLike
I’m interested in what you have to say! (I have an analytical mind too, and I remember the most useless things… or sociological concepts, one or the other.)
LikeLike
Probably both!
Yan
LikeLike