Neither from owl nor from bat/Can peace be gained 'til I clasp my wombat

August 12, 2017 10:16 PM

When George the wombat was only four months old, his mum was hit and killed by a car. A passer-by found him in her pouch and took him to the Australian Reptile Park where General Manager Tim Faulkner became his new family, as this viral video shows. George recently had his first birthday, and the Park celebrated by creating a shot-for-shot remake. [both videos have cheerful music; wombats previously]
posted by Johnny Wallflower (14 comments total)

h/t to relatively-new MeFite UnoDosTresEsto
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:16 PM on August 12, 2017

I don't think I realized wombats got to be so big!

I hadn't seen any videos, but I did assume that baby wombats were that cute. Nice to see it confirmed though.
posted by aubilenon at 10:42 PM on August 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

Wish the birthday video would play more than just the audio for me.
posted by Samizdata at 11:00 PM on August 12, 2017 [4 favorites]

The Australian Reptile Park is just off a road I travel bi-weekly and they have a lovely big model dinosaur you can see from the highway and they paint it different colours on occasion, as people do with such things. I appreciate seeing a dinosaur in the hills, because extant fauna can be hard to spot from a vehicle.
posted by Peter B-S at 11:10 PM on August 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

I really, really want to give a wombat a belly rub. They're the perfect mix of chubby and fluffy.

The Australian Reptile Park has Parma wallabies. Who look exactly like wallabies who've eaten a few too many parmas.
posted by davidwitteveen at 2:47 AM on August 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

I don't think I realized wombats got to be so big!

They can grow to over a meter in length and up to around 35 kg. This may help put their potential size into perspective.

While they look cute, some have a reputation for nipping. A TV show in Australia called Country Practice used to have a wombat called "Fatso". If I remember correctly, he had a rather nasty reputation for biting.
posted by greenhornet at 4:32 AM on August 13, 2017

… ISTR Fatso falling off a work surface in a CP episode.
posted by scruss at 6:03 AM on August 13, 2017

Samizdata, trying unblocking pinterest (assuming you have some ad blocking software active).
posted by tommasz at 6:54 AM on August 13, 2017

Here's a German video with more footage of littler George.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:21 AM on August 13, 2017

Wow. After reading way too much about Virginia, this makes me feel like I can leave the house and go to work instead of curling up and crying. Thanks again, Johnny Wallflower, your posts really help me get through all this darkness.
posted by eggkeeper at 10:29 AM on August 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

I think you're gonna need a bigger bag....
posted by ALeaflikeStructure at 11:36 AM on August 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

Yay wombats!
posted by rmd1023 at 1:18 PM on August 13, 2017

I once stayed on a farm that had adopted a wombat. They're surprisingly heavy. Also, they have armor-plated bottoms and make square poo.
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:48 PM on August 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

This cheered up quite a few of my Facebook friends who were despairing, including one who is quadriplegic and politically engaged who said she forwarded it to several friends. More wombat!
posted by Peach at 7:22 PM on August 14, 2017 [1 favorite]