The Ballarat Wildlife Park is hoping to pull off the incredibly difficult task of breeding southern hairy-nosed wombats in captivity.
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Young wombats Willy and Nulai (pictured), two and a half years old and three years old respectively, have settled in together after months of courtship.
Wildlife Park mammal keeper Cass Hancock said she is hopeful joeys are on the way, especially because of how difficult breeding in captivity can be.
"In their breeding season we saw what looked like a few successful attempts to breed," she said.
"There was a lot of playful chasing and biting," she laughed.
"It would be amazing if they are successful, I don't know a program that has been successful but we won't know for another few weeks."
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Ms Hancock told The Courier breeding programs are even more crucial now following Australia's devastating summer of fires.
She also credited the community for donating much needed supplies for the fire ravaged areas across the nation.
"The whole staff room was full of donations at one point... It's been amazing to see how generous the whole world has been to Australia."
The southern hairy-nosed wombat is very similar to a normal wombat, however a generally much more social.
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