Unlikely housemates: wombat shares burrow with fox and cub

A sensor camera at a Murrays Run property recorded a remarkable series of comings and goings on the same night, indicating the unlikely friends were using the burrow at the same time.

The landholder, who wished to remain anonymous, shared the pictures with the World Wide Fund for Nature Australia after hearing about new research it supported which showed wombat burrows provide critical shelter for numerous species after severe wildfires.

Wildlife rescuer and carer Narelle Thompson said throughout the years she had heard from people who have seen a wombat killing a fox, particularly a female wombat with a joey.

"I was told the female wombat lays flat in the entrance giving the fox a false sense of assurance that it's okay to climb over her back," she said.

"Once the fox is in place, she stands up and crushes the fox between her hard armoured butt and the roof of the burrow.

"That's why I find it extremely unusual for a wombat to be sharing its home with a fox, but stranger things have happened."

The sensor camera captured the unexpected behaviour continuing for the four days it was in place.

On one night the mother fox entered the burrow at 8.52pm and emerged two minutes later, and at 9.35pm the wombat can be seen emerging.

Wombats have been known to sometimes tolerate other harmless species in their underground homes.

However, they are known to be less friendly with foxes.

The crushed skulls of foxes and dogs have been found outside burrows, leading some to believe wombats use their hard rumps to crush them against the walls of their burrows.

In 2020, a Mange Management Facebook post showing a dead fox beside a wombat in a borrow entrance reignited this theory.

Katja Gutwein from Mange Management said a landholder her non-profit worked with witnessed an epic battle of wills between a wombat and a fox.

"The fox tried to take over the wombat's burrow and each day it would carry vegetation in to create bedding," she said.

"Each night the indignant wombat would turf out the fox's bedding.

"This went on for days until in the end the fox gave up."

The landholder who recorded the remarkable burrow-sharing by the fox and wombat set out to find the fox after a disturbing incident.

"There are eastern grey kangaroos and swamp wallabies on our 40 hectare property which backs onto Olney State Forrest," he said.

"I'd been finding dead wallaby joeys.

"Then one day my wife and I were horrified to see a fox jump up and bite open the neck of a wallaby."

The landowner said they chased the fox away but the wallaby could not be saved.

"I found a wombat burrow and outside the entrance was a partially eaten possum, a couple of bird carcasses, and the remains of a small marsupial," he said.

"I trained the sensor camera at the burrow entrance to confirm there was a resident fox.

"What I didn't expect was to record a wombat sharing its burrow with a predator. Everyone I've spoken to was amazed by this behaviour."

The fox was humanely destroyed by the landholder due to the injuries it was causing.

He believes the cub, which was approaching maturity, dispersed because it was not seen again.

A 2022 study found foxes kill about 300 million native mammals, birds and reptiles each year, and together with cats have played a major role in most of Australia's 34 mammal extinctions.

As for the wombats on his property, the landholder treated them for mange.

The landowner reported they now all appear healthy.