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ALMOST HUMAN 
as the animals could get the least grip with their forefeet, they were 
more than a match for the strongest men. 
Nature has taught the wombat how to make a most effective resist- 
ance to the dog’s endeavors to dislodge it from its hiding hole. This 
hole is always somewhat bigger than the wombat, and when the dog 
appears the wombat promptly turns his hind-quarters to the intruder. 
Naturally the dog, unless he is an old hand, will attempt to bite; but, 
finding the hide excessively hard, will thrust his muzzle further over 
the wombat’s back, in the hope of getting at the shoulders. This is the 
wombat’s opportunity. Suddenly he will give a sharp, upward jerk, for 
which the dog is not prepared. It means that the dog’s head is struck 
violently against the rocky roof of the burrow, and as the little animal 
will kick out as well as buck, the game generally results in a bad mauling 
for the attacking dog and immunity for the hunted. Wise dogs that 
have served a hard apprenticeship are not caught in any such fashion. 
They merely stand on guard and yap, yap, yap at the hind-quarters 
until, in desperation, the wombat kicks, and the outstretched leg is then 
caught by the cunning, wide-awake dog. Even then it is a long and 
desperate struggle before the creature is dislodged. Mr. Wilkie has 
known them to resist capture so strenuously, even when they had only a 
cement floor to cling to, that they have almost had their legs pulled off 
before yielding to the strain. 
Wombats become very friendly with visitors at the Zoo, and there 
is one there now that will get on its hind legs and beg for scraps from 
the children, and will eat out of their hands as tamely as a Guinea pig. 
TASMANIAN DEVILS 
THREE INTERESTING IMPS. 
A great deal of interest was evoked by the appearance of two 
families of baby devils at the Zoo last August (1917). Never before 
have the miniature specimens been known there; but in the middle of 
1917 three or four adult Tasmanian devils were brought from Tasmania, 
and when they arrived it was discovered that one had three babies in 
her pouch. Fear was expressed lest, through the change and all the 
handling, the notoriously bad temper of these creatures would lead the 
mother to wreak her wrath upon her own young; but she took her 
