Here's a baby wombat scratching its armored butt

[HarveyDarkey]

"... sorry, come again?"

yeah, Wombats happen to have fully reinforced derrieres that they use to keep predators out of their burrows. When something decides to come after a wombat, it quickly retreats underground but not before blocking the burrow's entrance with its butt. Their butts are made almost entirely out of cartilage so they're very hard to take a bite out of. This incredible rear is unique in the animal world (zoologists call it a dermal shield).

[onehandle]

1. I'm pretty sure the cutey is telling a certain toothless orange man to bite his ass.

Gum away, Mr. Speaker.

Unimpressed wombat remains unimpressed.

[pinboy3niner]

2. Shhh! You're giving away MFM's secret.

They don't call him 'Hardass' for nothing.

[valerief]

3. You sure that's not Miley Cyrus? nt

[pam4water]

4. Oh they look different when they are young and their fur is short. They kind of look like

big hair balls when they are adults.

[MiddleFingerMom]

5. There's a great motorcycle rally that I always wanted to take part in...

.
.
.
... the "course" is near the perimeter of the entire United States. There's tons of categories
(one of them being the shortest time) and lots of scavenger hunt-like things to pick up along
the way for points (souvenirs from various places). There's even a category for "most tickets".
.
At least, there used to be in the old days.
.
IT'S 11,000 MILES IN 11 DAYS!!!!!
.
.
It's called "The Iron Butt Rally".
.
.
.
Maybe they could call the riding style near the end of the rally "The Wombat Wobble".
.
.

[AnneD]

9. MFM....

in his tender youth. You were a cute lil thang.

[Baitball Blogger]

6. I could really use a wombat ass. Some days more than others.

[PeoViejo]

7. Kiss this.....

Note extended middle finger..err..claw.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

8. they also poop cubes!

Every evening, your average wombat deposits 80 to 100 dry, cube-like droppings around its territory. This nocturnal marsupial unloads four to eight of these 2-centimeter wide feces every time it pauses to excrete.

This panoply of square droppings isn't just evolution evincing a sense of potty humor. No, the wombats' many odiferous turds help the animal mark its territory and recognize new, potential mates. So yes, wombat's mating process is not unlike some of the most frightening pornography on the internet.

The primarily solitary wombat lives underground in a burrow and possesses awful eyesight. Being nocturnal dwellers, the wombat instead relies on its sense of smell to navigate the forest and shrub. The creatures demarcate their territory by festooning the environs with their feces, a tactic that has yet to catch on in human society. (Among polite company, at least.) Explains Animal Planet of the wombats' scatological geopolitics:

In addition to scent markings, or scents produced by the hormones that animals release, wombats leave their cube-shaped scat as territorial signposts on the tops of rocks and logs. That distinct shape is beneficial since the flat sides of the cubes keep the droppings in place on their precarious locations.
http://io9.com/5872472/the-wombats-cubic-poop-is-one-of-natures-weirdest-superpowers

http://librarianlola.blogspot.com/2011/08/useless-knowledge.html

[AnneD]

10. The cartilage butt...

sorta explains the cubic poop. Gives rise to the rhetorical saying ...is a wombats poop square instead of ...does a bear shit in the woods.....

[AtheistCrusader]

12. Actually there are blade-like bones in there that shape it.

Very interesting animal.

[irisblue]

11. I'm glad I read this thread...

I will use this for starting cocktail party chatter this Saturday...