关于袋熊你不知道的8件事

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2020年01月17日

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8 things you didn't know about wombats

关于袋熊你不知道的8件事

Wombats are marsupials found only in Australia, but the short, stubby-legged animals are rarely held in the same regard as other native animals like koalas and kangaroos.

袋熊是一种只有在澳大利亚才能找到的有袋类动物，但这种短而粗腿的动物很少像考拉和袋鼠等其他本土动物那样受到重视。

A wombat walks in Maria Island National Park in Australia. (Photo: JJ Harrison, jjharrison89@facebook.com [CC BY-SA 3.0]/Wikimedia Commons)

However, these adorable creatures deserve some much-deserved recognition. In honor of these under-appreciated marsupials, here are eight things you might not know about wombats.

然而，这些可爱的动物应该得到一些应得的认可。为了纪念这些不被重视的有袋类动物，这里有八件关于袋熊你可能不知道的事情。

1. There are three species of wombats: common wombats, northern hairy-nosed wombats and southern hairy-nosed wombats. While there are thousands of common and southern hairy-nosed wombats in the wild, the northern hairy-nosed wombat is critically endangered.

袋熊有三种:普通袋熊、北方的毛鼻袋熊和南方的毛鼻袋熊。普通袋熊和野生的南方毛鼻袋熊数以千计，而北方毛鼻袋熊则濒临灭绝。

2. When it comes to mating, southern hairy-nosed females tend to bite a male's bottom when they're most fertile. Researchers hope this recent discovery will help captive breeding efforts to ensure the species' survival.

在交配的时候，南方毛鼻袋熊雌性在最能生育的时候会咬雄性的屁股。研究人员希望这一最新发现将有助于圈养繁殖努力，以确保该物种的生存。

Wombats prefer to live in wet, forested areas near the coastline in Australia. (Photo: Charles Meeks [CC BY-ND 2.0]/Flickr)

3. Most Australians have never seen a wombat in the wild because the animals spend most of the daylight hours in their burrows.

大多数澳大利亚人从未在野外见过袋熊，因为袋熊白天大部分时间都呆在洞穴里。

4. Although their wide bodies and stubby legs give them the appearance of being slow-moving, wombats can run up to 25 mph over short distances.

尽管它们宽大的身体和短粗的腿让它们看起来行动缓慢，但袋熊在短距离内可以跑到每小时25英里。

Wombats spend between three to eight hours a day eating. (Photo: Andy Tyler [CC BY-ND 2.0]/Flickr)

5. Wombats produce cube-shaped poop pellets. The peculiar shape is a result of the dryness of the animal’s feces. Wombats are known for having the driest poop of any mammal, a result of their long digestive process, which can take 14 to 18 days. This lengthy process allows wombats to absorb the maximum amount of nutrients from their food. Their intestine walls also play a role. The walls stretch unevenly as the poop slowly moves through — thus causing the feces to be cube shaped.

袋熊的粪便呈立方体。这种奇怪的形状是动物粪便干燥的结果。袋熊以拥有哺乳动物中最干燥的粪便而闻名，这是它们长时间消化过程的结果，这一过程可能需要14到18天。这个漫长的过程使袋熊能够从食物中吸收最多的营养。它们的肠壁也起作用。当粪便缓慢通过时，粪便壁就会不均匀地拉伸，从而导致粪便呈立方体形状。

6. Their incisors never stop growing — kind of like guinea pigs — and wombats keep their teeth to a suitable length by chowing down on grasses, bark and roots.

它们的门牙从未停止生长——有点像豚鼠——而袋熊通过咀嚼青草、树皮和树根来保持牙齿的合适长度。

The gestation period is only between 20 to 22 days. (Photo: Will Keightley [CC BY-SA 2.0]/Flickr)

7. While other marsupials have pouches that open at the top toward the mother's head, wombats have backwards pouches. Wombats are burrowing animals, so a backwards-facing pouch prevents soil from falling onto its young.

其他有袋类动物的育儿袋是向母亲头部上方张开的，而袋熊的育儿袋是向后的。袋熊是穴居动物，所以背向的袋子可以防止泥土落到它的幼仔身上。

8. Wombats are adept at tunneling. Often their networks of burrows — called warrens — are used by other animals seeking refuge underground. They most recently gained attention for sharing their homes, albeit accidentally, with animals escaping wildfires in Australia.

袋熊擅长挖隧道。它们的洞穴网络通常被其他动物用来在地下寻求庇护。最近，他们因为和动物们一起躲避澳大利亚的野火而引起了人们的注意，尽管是偶然的。

Their burrow entrances are often just large enough for one animal. When an animal such as a dingo attacks a wombat, the marsupial simply turns around and uses its backside as a shield. The animals' rears are covered with thick, tough skin, and wombats have very small tails, making them difficult to grab onto.

它们的洞穴入口通常只够容纳一只动物。当像澳洲野狗这样的动物攻击袋熊时，袋熊只是转过身来，用它的背部作为盾牌。这种动物的屁股上覆盖着厚厚的、坚韧的皮肤，而袋熊的尾巴非常小，很难抓住。

Check out more photos below to see just how cute wombats are.

看看下面的更多照片，看看袋熊有多可爱。