Wombats

Features of Wombats

From Kirkus Reviews Like Stodart's book on the echidna (above), a delightful Australian import about a uniquely Australian animal. The wombat, nearest relative to the koala, is a kind of waddling teddy bear; a marsupial, it has a backward-facing pouch in which its bean- sized embryo grows--as shown here in an outstanding color-photo sequence. Like Stodart, Triggs covers special adaptations and endangered habitat and includes a wealth of excellent, appealing photos. Range maps. (Nonfiction. 8-12) -- Copyright 1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. Product Description A study of one of the world's largest burrowing creatures details the wombat's habits, life cycle, and natural environment From School Library Journal Grade 4-6-- The curious nature of the Australian wombat, a marsupial and one of the world's largest burrowing mammals, is expertly delineated in this introduction. Sharp full-color photos appear on almost every page; many are close-ups. Two maps, shaded to indicate distribution patterns throughout Australia and Tasmania, are also included. Succinctly written and well organized, this title conveys a real sense of how wombats live. While this book has some minor flaws (the average weight of the animals is not given, and not all of the photos have captions identifying the species shown), it is the most thorough introduction to the wombat for this age level. Stone's Wombats (Rourke, 1990) is a superficial introduction offering little detail on the animals' characteristics or behavior. --Karey Wehner, San Francisco Public LibraryCopyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.