The wombat is the Australian marsupial whose pouch opens backward.
A wombat’s pouch faces toward the rear rather than toward the head. This arrangement helps prevent soil from falling onto a developing joey when its mother digs through burrows and pushes earth backward with her powerful limbs.
Wombats are sturdy, burrowing herbivores found in Australia and Tasmania. They have compact bodies, short tails, strong claws, and continuously growing incisor teeth adapted for cutting vegetation. Three living species are recognized, including the common wombat and the southern and northern hairy-nosed wombats.
The backward-facing pouch is a useful adaptation, but it does not mean wombats give birth backward. Like other marsupials, a newborn wombat makes its way to the pouch soon after birth and completes much of its development there.