Tales of wombat ‘heroes’ have gone viral. Unfortunately, they’re not true

If you’ve been following the bushfire crisis on social media and elsewhere, you may have seen reports of benevolent wombats herding other animals to shelter into their fire-proof burrows.

Wombats may not usher other animals into their burrows,
but their warrens still protect other species in bushfires. 

These stories went quickly viral – probably reflecting the appetite for good news after the horrors of the bushfire crisis. However the accounts are not entirely accurate.

Wombats do not heroically round up helpless animals during a bushfire and lead them to safety. But wombats do help other animals in a different way – even if it’s not their intention.

Read the story from The Conversation by an Associate professor/ARC DECRA fellow from Charles Sturt University, Dale Nimmo - “Tales of wombat ‘heroes’ have gone viral. Unfortunately, they’re not true.”