What is a wombat in geography. Wombat is an animal. Description of the wombat. Wombat life and habitat. Appearance and resemblance to other animals

Wombat - Australia

The wombat is a rare animal found in Australia.

It belongs to the family of two-incised marsupials, to which kangaroos and koalas also belong. The closest relatives of wombats are marsupials. The wombat is a small animal, its body length usually ranges from 70 to 120 cm. The average weight of a wombat ranges from 20 to 45 kg.

Outwardly, this animal bears some resemblance to a bear. The body is rather compact, has short limbs, which are distinguished by great strength. With their help, wombats dig their holes in the ground. Each wombat's paw ends in five toes with large claws. Claws are the main tool of the excavating wombat. In the structure of its jaws and teeth, the wombat resembles a rodent. Among all marsupials, the wombat is the most "toothless", it has only 12 teeth.

The main habitat of the wombat is the states of Victoria, New South Wales, New Australia, Tasmania, Queensland. They can live in almost any conditions, the main thing is that the earth in this area can be dug.

Today, there are two types of wombats, which differ in some ways. The first species was named the wool-nosed wombat because of the hair on the nose.

This species includes two subspecies - the Queensland wombat and the long-haired wombat.

The second type of wombats is bare-nosed, they do not have hair on their nose. This species includes short-haired wombats and salamata wombats. In addition, science knew five more species of wombats, which are completely extinct today.

Wombat life

B Most of the wombat's life is spent underground, in a burrow. Of all mammals, it is the largest burrowing animal. Nora is a wombat abode that can connect underground tunnels with other dwellings. Such a tunnel can be up to twenty meters in length, and the average depth of a wombat's burrow is 3.5 meters. All day, the wombat hides from the hot sun in the bowels of the earth, and by nightfall it gets out to the surface to find food for itself. Wombats feed on grass, mainly finding young shoots. In extreme cases, they can eat moss, berries, mushrooms, or roots.

On the ground, the wombat encounters few dangers. The only predator that threatens the measured life of the wombat is the wild dingo dog.

The wombat is always protected by the back of the body, as it is very hard and almost impenetrable. Thick skin, cartilage and bones perfectly reflect the attacks of enemies. Sometimes a wombat can obstruct the entrance to its burrow with the back of its body to protect its home. Defending, wombats hit their opponents with their heads, as if they were butting. When a dingo dog enters the hole, the wombat drives it into a far corner and strangles it with the back of its body.

Wombats in nature

Wombats are excellent defenders of their territory. On the defensive, they show serious aggression, and can easily strangle almost any opponent. Warning of danger, wombats menacingly moo and wave their heads in different directions. This gesture is a signal to attack. Despite its short legs, the wombat is able to run very fast. Departing from the enemy, he can develop a phenomenal speed of up to 62 kilometers per hour. If necessary, the wombat can climb a tree or bury itself in the ground.

Usually wombats can breed throughout the year. However, those species that live in the arid part of the country reproduce only during certain seasons. Each female can give birth to one cub.

Until about eight months of age, the wombat cub constantly stays in the mother's pouch, and only then gradually begins to lead an independent life. The first year, the cub is completely dependent on the mother and is always near her.

Wombats, or wombats (Vombatidae), are representatives of the family of marsupial mammals, which belong to the order of two incisors, living mainly in Australia. All wombats are burrowing, completely herbivores, resembling very miniature bears or rather large hamsters in appearance.

Description of the wombat

Mammals from the order Two-edged marsupials and the Wombat family lived on our planet more than ten million years ago, which directly indicates the unusual originality and uniqueness of such an animal. Many species of wombats have already disappeared, so at present only two genera from the wombat family are representatives of the modern fauna: the short-haired wombat, and the long-haired or Queensland wombat.

Appearance

Wombats are typical representatives of herbivorous mammals.... The average weight of an adult animal is 20-40 kg with a length of 70-120 cm. The wombat has a rather dense and compact constitution, has a small body, a large head and four well-developed, powerful limbs. Wombats are characterized by the presence of a small tail, which is considered to be undeveloped. The coat of such a mammal has a gray or ash coloration.

It is interesting! The rear of the herbivore is built in a special way - it is here that there is a significant amount of bones and cartilage covered with very hard skin, which serves as a kind of protective shield for the wombat.

With the threat of natural enemies entering the hole to such an unusual animal, wombats, as a rule, expose their back and thus protect or block the passage to their home. Due to its impressive size, the rear can also be used as a weapon to crush the enemy. Despite their short paws, wombats, when moving, reach speeds of up to 40 km / h, and are also able to climb a tree and even swim quite well.

Attention is also drawn to the head area of ​​such funny and compact "bears"... The head is very large in comparison with the size of the body, while slightly flattened, with the presence of beady eyes on the sides. In case of real danger, the wombat is able not only to defend itself, but also to quite effectively attack with its head, using for this purpose characteristic butting movements.

The jaws, as well as the teeth of a mammal, in their structure and appearance, are very similar to the primary food processing organs of rodents. Among other marsupial animals, it is wombats that have the least number of teeth: the upper and lower rows are characterized by the presence of a pair of cutting-type front teeth, as well as chewing teeth. At the same time, the animal completely lacks traditional angular teeth.

It is interesting! Wombats are well deservedly famous for the art of digging, and can easily create entire underground labyrinths. It is for this reason that wombats are often called the most talented and large-sized excavators.

The limbs of the wombat are very strong and muscular, quite strong, having claws that are located on all five toes of each paw. A well-developed skeleton of the limbs plays a very important role in the life of a mammal. With the help of their paws, adult miniature "bears" are able to dig comfortable and roomy burrows. The tunnels they pull out often reach a length of 18-20 meters and a width of 2.5-3.0 meters. Representatives of the detachment Dvoretsovye marsupials and the Wombat family deftly build a kind of underground "palaces" in which whole families live.

Wombat lifestyle

Wombats are predominantly underground and nocturnal, so the main condition when choosing a place to live is the presence of dry soil in the complete absence of oversized stones, groundwater and tree roots. The wombat spends a significant part of the day inside its burrow. Rest and sleep is carried out during the day, and at nightfall, the mammal goes upstairs, warms up or strengthens itself.

All representatives of wombats prefer to live in rather large groups, so the territory for their life is very impressive. The borders of its territory, which can be several tens of hectares, are marked with a kind of square animal excrement. By their nature, wombats are friendly and absolutely not afraid of humans, which is why they are often kept as a home exotic.

Life span

As many years of scientific research and naturalistic observations show, the average life span of a wombat in natural conditions does not exceed fifteen years. In captivity, a mammal can live for almost a quarter of a century, but the timing depends on the conditions of detention and the characteristics of the diet.

Types of wombats

Currently, the family includes three modern species, which are combined into two genera:

• Genus Lаsiоrhinus. Long-haired, or woolly, or hairy wombats (Lаsiоrhinus) are animals from the genus of marsupial mammals. A fairly large animal with a body length of 77-100 cm, with a tail length of 25-60 mm and a weight of 19-32 kg. The fur is soft and long, brown-gray on the back, and white on the chest and cheeks. The ears are small and triangular in shape;
• Genus Vombatus. Short-haired, or hairless, or Tasmanian wombats (Vombatus ursinus) are animals belonging to the species of marsupial mammals. The only modern representative of the genus naked wombats.

It is interesting! Diprotodon belonged to the closest relatives of representatives of wombats, but this simply gigantic representative of marsupials died out about forty thousand years ago.

From the population of the Queensland wombat today there are just over a hundred individuals that are kept in a small nature reserve in Queensland. The broad-forehead wombat of the genus Lаsiоrhinus has a length of about a meter, light gray skin and original sharp ears.

Habitat, habitats

The ancestors of wombats were small in size, settled on trees, and moved from one branch to another using long tails, like all monkeys, or caught on the trunk of plants with the help of thumbs on their paws. This feature affected the range and habitats of the modern mammal.

The least studied Australian marsupial longhaired or woolly wombats are found in southeastern South Australia and western Victoria, as well as southwestern New South Wales, in southern and central Queensland. There are three known subspecies of the genus Vombatus or short-haired wombats: Vombatus ursinus hirsutus, inhabiting Australia, Vombatus ursinus tasmaniensis, in Tasmania, and Vombatus ursinus ursinus, inhabiting only Flinders Island.

Wombat diet

Wombats very willingly eat young grassy shoots.... Sometimes mammals also eat plant roots and mosses, berry crops and mushrooms. Thanks to such anatomical features as the separation of the upper lip, wombats are able to very accurately and competently select a food ration for themselves.

It is interesting! The front teeth of the animal can reach directly to ground level, which is very convenient for cutting off even the smallest green shoots. A well-developed sense of smell also plays an important role in the choice of food at night.

It should be noted that representatives of wombats are characterized by slow, but at the same time very effective metabolic processes. For a full digestion of all the food eaten, a mammal needs about two weeks. In addition, it is the wombats who are by far the most economical water consumers of all mammals living on our planet (of course, after the camel). An adult animal needs about 20-22 ml of water per day for each kilogram of body weight. However, cold weather is difficult for wombats.

Is a representative of the Australian fauna that is active at night. The herbivorous animal, like meerkats, mongooses and ferrets, digs holes. Vegetation is the main food of the animal. It looks friendly and seems safe, however, this is a misconception. As soon as the wombat senses a threat, it immediately becomes aggressive. It is pertinent to say that nature has endowed this animal with the sharpest hearing.

Where the wombat lives

Australia and Tasmania are the main regions where the wombat lives... It is found in South New Wales, Victoria and Queensland. Its distribution environment is vast fields, mountains and forests. The wombat has a huge need for land in which he tirelessly digs burrows - there he dwells and there marks his own territory.

The wombat will always protect the habitable expanses and scare away uninvited guests with stern mooing. Often this is enough for them to leave him alone, but if necessary, the wombat is ready to join the fight. Before, wombats were inhabited all over Australia, but due to the intensive extermination of rodents, their population has significantly decreased. Today they can be found only in the southern part of the mainland.

Gallery: animal wombat (25 photos)

looks like a small stocky bear because of its short legs. But in fact, he is a "relative" of the koala and kangaroo. The body is massive and thick, with a large head. Currently, three species of these mammals are known:

• common Vombatus ursinus;
• broad-browed;
• northern, or woolly Krefta.

Representatives of the last two varieties bear another name - long-haired.

Appearance

The body length of an adult animal reaches about 75-130 cm. The weight is 25-45 kg. The body looks compact, the legs are short, but extremely strong. Each foot has five toes, four of which have piercing claws - with which he digs his trenches. The large head has two small eyes. A very long and thin tail.

The wombat has a usual one: the nose is absolutely naked, the short ears are roundish in shape, the wool is painted in a gray-brownish tone, it is completely tough to the touch. Representatives of the other two species - northern and broad-browed - have a hairy nose, much larger ears and soft fur. The largest among the rest is the wombat, belonging to the broad-browed species. Its distinctive features are considered to be a flat forehead and pointed ears.

Who is a wombat

It is found mainly underground in a hole that he dug himself... Through its long, sharp claws, this animal is able to build both small caves and real tunnel passages. The length of which can reach about 20 meters, and the depth is about 3.5 meters. In the places of transition of underground systems, independent caves are formed, in which different "families" of these mammals can live at different times. They are quite charming and extremely amazing, because they rest during the day, being in their shelters, and under cover of night they show their activity to find food.

Adults have almost no natural enemies; however, only Tasmanian devils and wild dingoes can hunt on them.

Nutrition

Vegetation is a source of food for wombats. They use:

• shoots of herbs;
• the roots of the found plants;
• can be saturated with moss;
• as well as mushrooms and berries.

And they recognize edible vegetation through the upper lip. Strong front teeth protrude from under it, with which the animals instantly cut off young shoots to the very root. Due to the excellently developed sense of smell, these representatives of the fauna are the best way possible to orient themselves even in the dark.

The breeding phase begins in May and lasts until August. It takes no more than three weeks to bear a wombat cub. During one pregnancy, she can give birth to only one "heir" who, after birth, remains under her protection for a sufficiently maximum period of time. This animal has a bag on its abdomen, which is turned upside down. This placement helps wombats to dig their tunnels at ease, even while the little wombat (cub) is in the bag.

Reproduction of the wombat occurs almost in the entire area where it lives, with the exception of isolated arid zones. In such areas, this animal is capable of producing offspring only at a specified time of the year. In wildlife situations, the northern and common wombats exist for an average of about fifteen years. In captivity, their life expectancy, on the contrary, increases to a quarter of a century.

Australia is famous for a huge number of zoological parks and tourist centers where animals live in captivity and are absolutely actively breeding. Australian wombats are extremely popular, despite the fact that they are extremely difficult to tame. But the park employees managed to find a common language with these creatures: after lengthy persuasion, they still leave their personal "apartments" for public viewing and even allow themselves to be stroked.

But do not forget about their far from meek character, which can awaken at any moment. As soon as a marsupial senses danger, it is immediately able to attack a person and scratch him with its rather rather large and strong claws. If he is not provoked, then he will not show signs of anger. But at the same time, even a bad mood can affect his course of action.

Powerful and sturdy, possessing remarkable weight, sharp teeth and massive jaws, an angry wombat will leave deep wounds if a person does not disappear from his field of vision at the right time. In addition, being in anger, these animals can completely and completely destroy the vegetation that will be in the area. He will diligently dig up the entire site until not a single sprout remains on it.

Such data make the wombat not the kindest pets. He is unpredictable, overly fearful and, because of this, is a huge danger to humans. And even if the threat is not realistic, a wombat gripped by fear can pounce on an imaginary enemy.

Today, many people want to keep such a pet at home. However, experts do not recommend ... Because it can bring a lot of hassle for both other pets and people. If the animal is frightened or feels threatened, it can bite or scratch. Undoubtedly, this fluffy and funny animal evokes sympathy and respect. However, a wombat at home is not the best option.

A favorable place for this animal is a vast territory of a personal plot, and not a house. At the same time, it is important to remember about the climatic zone of residence, since they do not tolerate the cool season indescribably poorly.

Common wombat small and very shy animal, covered with thick hair. The wombat looks like a bear cub and a badger at the same time, but it belongs to the order of marsupials. A number of marsupials
Dimensions (edit)
Length: 70-115 cm.
Tail length: 2.5 cm.
Weight: 22-39 kg.
Reproduction.
Puberty: from the first year of life.
Mating season: autumn.
Pregnancy: 20-22 days. The female carries the baby for 6 months.
Number of cubs: 1.
Lifestyle.
Habits: loner.
Food: Mainly grass, but also roots, tree bark and mushrooms.
Sounds: harsh growling.
Life Expectancy: up to 3 years.
Related species. In the south, the broad-forehead, or long-haired, wombat lives, in the north the Krefta wombat, which is threatened with extinction. Short and strong legs with long claws are an excellent tool for digging holes. Thanks to this, the wombat can lead an interesting life underground. People often consider him a pest. Wombats cause significant damage to farmers in their fields and pastures.
Food. The wombat feeds mainly on grass. At night, he goes around his favorite places located in open areas. A wombat can walk up to three kilometers per night.
The limbs of these animals are strong, armed with powerful spade-like claws adapted for digging. With its front paws, the wombat pulls out plants from the ground, even eating their roots. The wombat eats the bark and leaves of trees and bushes. Each wombat has its own territory, which it guards from competitors of other wombats. A characteristic feature of wombats is their teeth, which are similar to those of rodents. They have no canines, and the tooth enamel only covers the anterior side of the incisors, so the upper border becomes very sharp. Wombats have four incisors (two on the upper and two on the lower jaw), similar to the incisors of rodents. They are constantly growing. The wombat bites off food, quickly moving the lower jaw.

Wombat and man. The first Europeans to see the wombat were sailors from a ship that crashed at the end of the 18th century in Bass Strait, located between Australia and Tasmania. When they reached the coast and saw the wombats, people first mistook them for cubs. Then these animals were called badgers. Soon, Australian settlers realized that wombats were pests. Inhabitants of Australia believe that wombats spoil the surfaces of pastures with holes. Rabbits began to hide in the wombat holes. During the destruction of rabbits, wombats also died. For every wombat killed, a huge reward was paid. At the end of the 19th century, almost all wombats were destroyed on the islands of the Bass Strait.
Way of life. The homeland of the wombat is the hilly areas in the deserts and along the edges. He lives in holes that he digs for himself. In the hole, the wombat sleeps and hides when it is in danger. One wombat occupies ten or more holes at a time. Each of them has a separate entrance. The wombat digs holes with strong front paws, on which it has long sharp claws. He tosses the dug earth aside.

When the burrow gets deeper, the wombat begins to dig with all four paws. When a root appears in its path, the wombat immediately gnaws at it. The wombat is nocturnal, so it sleeps in its burrow most of the day. Often, not far from the entrance to the hole of this animal, you can see a shallow hole, this is the place where it “takes” morning sunbathing. Although some animals dig holes close to each other, and sometimes even their structures are connected by common corridors. Two individuals use the same hole rather rarely If a wombat is chased by some predator, it tries to get to its burrow at any cost.Only in the burrow does the wombat feel completely safe.
Reproduction. The wombat creates pairs only for the time of mating. This period begins in April and lasts until June. At this time in Australia, mid and late autumn. After gestation, which lasts only a few weeks, the female gives birth to one cub in a safe and comfortable burrow (the corridor that ends with a nesting chamber prepared in advance and lined with soft plants). At the time of his birth, he is still in the embryonic stage of development, but he already has well-developed forelimbs. With their help, the child can climb into the mother's bag. For six months, he sits in his mother's pouch, firmly sucks on one of the three nipples, through which he generously receives nutritious milk. Because the opening of the bag is at the back, the journey of baby wombats into the bag is shorter than that of small kangaroos. It is also convenient in that it excludes the possibility of clay getting into the bag while digging a hole and getting food. Even when the child grows so large that he can leave the bag, he remains with the mother for another eleven months and, in case of danger, hides in her bag. After the baby wombat learns to chew on its own, the mother nibbles fresh grass for him and puts it on the ground in front of his face.

Did you know… Fishermen who lived on the Bass Strait Islands caught wombats, raised them and kept them at home as house dogs. Wombats are easy to tame.
Marsupials live in Australia, nearby islands and America. There are about a hundred species of marsupials in Australia.
The fossils of the ancestors of marsupials date back 10,000 years. The marsupials of that time were the size of a hippopotamus.
Wombat can dig a hole in the ground as quickly as an adult does using a shovel.
The Latin name comes from the word “bag.” But there are several types of marsupials, in which a leather bag is absent, their cubs cling tightly to milk nipples or to the mother's fur.
A newborn wombat weighs only 2 g and is only 22 mm tall.

Wombat burrow. The burrow can be 30 m long and 2 m deep. The entrance to the burrow is oval and wide for a wombat to crawl through. He can block the entrance with his own body, not letting in uninvited guests.
Living quarters: lined with plant material and serves as a bedroom and "delivery room".
Sunbathing area: Not far from the entrance to the burrow, the wombat digs a shallow hole for itself, in which it basks in the sun early in the morning.
Bag: In the female wombat, the bag opens back so that no clay gets into it when she digs the ground.
Place of residence.Common wombat lives in Australia. Distributed from Queensland and New South Wales along the Great Sandy Desert and Victoria Desert up to the Southwest regions of Australia and Tasmania.
Preservation. Now the wombat is not threatened with extinction. Despite the ban, it is hunted in Victoria.

Wombat video

Wombats reach a length of 70 to 120 cm and a weight of 20 to 40 kg. Their torso is built compact, the limbs are short and strong. Each of them has five fingers, of which the outer four are crowned with large claws adapted for digging the ground. The tail is short, the large head gives the impression of being slightly flattened, the eyes are small.

Curiously, the wombat's jaws and teeth show resemblance to rodents. In the upper and lower row, wombats have a pair of front cutting teeth. The chewing teeth are very simple, angular teeth are missing. Wombats have the least number of teeth among marsupials.

Spreading

Wombats live in southern and eastern Australia, in the states of South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania. Distributed in various habitats, but need a suitable ground for digging holes.

Lifestyle

Wombats are the largest modern mammals that dig and spend most of their life underground. With their sharp claws, they dig small residential caves in the ground, which sometimes form complex tunnel systems. Typically, most of them are about 20 meters long and 3.5 meters deep. If areas of individuals overlap, the caves may be used by different wombats at different times. Wombats are active at night when they go out in search of food. During the day they rest in their shelters.

An adult wombat has almost no natural enemies. One of the few is a human-imported dingo. The back of a wombat's body is extremely hard due to its thick skin, cartilage, and bones. In case of danger, they can turn their backs, block their hole and repel most of the attackers, or crush their limbs against the walls of their living cave. In the back of the back, on the pelvic bones, the wombat has a kind of shield that protects it when attacked from behind. He also inflicts strong blows with his head - butting like a ram or a goat. If a dog climbs into his hole, he waits for her, not leaving the place, and then tries to drive into a corner, to the wall of the hole, and strangle him there. Much more often a person is to blame for the death of a wombat: in particular, many wombats die under the wheels of cars. In areas where human exposure is low, the abundance of wombats is determined by the availability of suitable food.

The area of ​​wombat plots varies depending on external conditions from 5 to 25 hectares. The territory is marked with excrement and built dwellings, and the wombat defends its site at times quite aggressively. At the sight of an intruder, males shake their heads threateningly from side to side, baring their teeth and growling. This is often enough to drive the intruder away. However, sometimes it comes to fights in which wombats can inflict serious wounds on each other.

At short distances, wombats can reach speeds of up to 42 km / h. When you need to get away from danger, the wombat swims well and can climb trees.

The split upper lip allows wombats to be very precise about what they eat. Thanks to it, the front teeth can reach straight to the ground and cut off even the smallest shoots. The sense of smell plays an important role in the choice of food in wombats active at night.

The metabolism of wombats is very slow and efficient. It takes them up to 14 days to digest food. Wombats are the most economical water consumers of all mammals that evolution has produced: they only need 22 ml of water per kg of body weight per day. Even animals such as kangaroos, perfectly adapted to living conditions in Australia, use four times more water.

Reproduction

Wombats breed throughout the year everywhere except in arid regions, where their breeding is more seasonal. Females' bags are turned back so that dirt does not fall into them when digging. Despite the fact that the female has two nipples, only one cub is born and reared at the same time. The offspring from six to eight months grows in the mother's pouch and remains close for the next year.

Queensland wombat

Wombats reach sexual maturity at the age of two years. Their life expectancy in nature reaches 15 years, in captivity they sometimes live up to 25.

Classification

The wombat family includes three modern species, uniting in two genera:

• Woolly wombats ( Lasiorhinus)
  • queensland wombat ( Lasiorhunus krefftii)
  • long-haired wombat ( Lasiorhunus latifrons)

• Naked wombats ( Vombatus)
  • short-haired wombat ( Vombatus ursinus)

Five extinct wombat genera are also known. Wombats appeared about 18 million years ago in the Miocene. The closest relatives of wombats are representatives of the family of marsupial bears (koalas). With them, wombats have numerous similarities in the structure of teeth, skull and spermatozoa. However, there are a number of morphological differences, indicating that the evolutionary lineages of koalas and wombats diverged approximately 36 million years ago.

An even closer relative of the wombats was the diprotodon, a giant rhino-sized marsupial that went extinct only about 40 thousand years ago.

Threats

After the settlement of Australia by Europeans, the range of wombats decreased significantly. The reasons for this were the destruction of their habitats, competition with imported species and the hunt for wombats. From the Queensland wombat today, only 118 remain, living in a small reserve in Queensland. The other two species are more common and not endangered yet.

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See what "Wombat" is in other dictionaries:

WOMBAT, an animal from marsupials, from a rabbit, in Australia, but does not jump; Phascolomus Wombat. Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary. IN AND. Dahl. 1863 1866 ... Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary

A New Dutch marsupial, about the size of a badger. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov AN, 1910. WOMBAT A genus of New Holland marsupial, the size of a badger. Explanation of 25,000 foreign words, ... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

Nus., Number of synonyms: 1 animal (277) ASIS synonym dictionary. V.N. Trishin. 2013 ... Synonym dictionary

- (Phascolomys) a genus of marsupials from the suborder of rodents (Rhizophaga s. Gliriformia), the wombat family (Phascolomyidae). They are small, clumsy animals, covered with thick, long and soft hair. V.'s teeth resemble those of rodents. ... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary of F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

wombat- (Australian) zool. kind of Indonesian torbar denez is a lot of proretchen and please toa protected with the law ... Macedonian dictionary

This term has other meanings, see Wombat (disambiguation). Locality Wombat Wombat Country Australia ... Wikipedia