Originally published at: Sunday was International Wombat Day, so join me in celebrating these awesome marsupials! | Boing Boing
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We were just drinking this on Saturday. How appropriate.
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Ever since I learned that a wombat’s poop is cubic in shape, it’s literally the first fact that pops into my head every time someone mentions wombats. In some ways, I am still 12.
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In its day, Digital Equipment Corp. had a product called Datatrieve with a sort-of mascot of the wombat. At one annual users conference I picked up this cute sticker but I still haven’t stuck it on anything.
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yet a “still 12” year old who may reference Reynolds numbers whilst shit sniggering
From the Journal Soft Matter 2021
The bare-nosed wombat (Vombatus ursinus) is a fossorial, herbivorous, Australian marsupial, renowned for its cubic feces. However, the ability of the wombat’s soft intestine to sculpt flat faces and sharp corners in feces is poorly understood. In this combined experimental and numerical study, we show one mechanism for the formation of corners in a highly damped environment. Wombat dissections show that cubes are formed within the last 17 percent of the intestine. Using histology and tensile testing, we discover that the cross-section of the intestine exhibits regions with a two-fold increase in thickness and a four-fold increase in stiffness, which we hypothesize facilitates the formation of corners by contractions of the intestine. Using a mathematical model, we simulate a series of azimuthal contractions of a damped elastic ring composed of alternating stiff and soft regions. Increased stiffness ratio and higher Reynolds number yield shapes that are more square. The corners arise from faster contraction in the stiff regions and relatively slower movement in the center of the soft regions. These results may have applications in manufacturing, clinical pathology, and digestive health.
(stay mentally young. stay curious)
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Never buy dice from a wombat (unless you intend to use them for shooting craps).
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Oh, Wombat. Wombat Harness! Take me to the place where eternity knows no bounds, where the garden of love encloses us round. Oh Harness!
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“They bite?”
“They try!” 
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This dude is a bamf. I was delighted when i saw the video last night
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Yay! Amplifying wombats!
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Well, since everyone’s aparrently obligated to link to their favorite wombat media and wombat facts, I must include this one –
“favorite” isn’t the right word, but it is very moving, and definitely wombat-related:
This moving tale tells the story of a wombat’s attempt to escape an approaching bushfire. The music, written by George Selwyn English and scored for an instrumental group of ten players, combines with the poetic narration to create a vivid and moving account of a very Australian phenomenon. Recorded 50 years ago, it was the ABC entry and winner of the 1959 Prix Italia. In this recording Alastair Duncan is the Narrator. He is supported by The Sydney Symphony Orchestra conducted by Nicolai Malko. It was released by RCA in 1961.
I heard this on the radio as a teen on a late weekend night, and it has stuck in my memory ever since.
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Since we’re sharing wombat links, I have to point people towards Digger by Ursula Vernon.
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Came here hoping to see this.
The Muddle-headed wombat! Thank you for the reminder. That was buried very deep in my psyche.
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You owe @awfulhorrid a coke, I believe…
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I believe you are correct!
@awfulhorrid
Unless they’d prefer something else from Maui Soda and Ice Works…
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