Never Let the Truth Get in the Way of a Good Story...

Between the dual top stories out of America - tensions with Iran and the ongoing impeachment - it's been tough for the environmental crisis du jour - the Australian bushfires - to break though the noise and get the attention that they deserve.  It isn't helped that a lot of what does make the news isn't entirely helpful.  Some people spread conspiracy theories, like the one where environmentalists set the fires to scare people about climate change.  Some people share wild exaggerations.   And some people share cutesy feel-good stories that may or may not be true.  Like this one:

So... are they?  The answer so far appears to be, "Doubtful"... or at least, "Half-True."  Like many burrowing animals around the world, from aardvarks in Africa to gopher tortoises in North America, wombats dig burrows, and those burrows may be used by a host of other species for shelter.  I can easily imagine that, in the fear of fire, many small animals would rush into wombat burrows.  As for actively herding animals into them for safety, that seems a lot less likely, and so far has not been documented.  

This story might be based on a misinterpretation of behavior.  Perhaps someone saw small animals like lizards and rodents rush into a burrow.  A startled wombat might run out, suddenly remember, "Oh yeah, the world's on fire," and then run back in.  Maybe someone saw this in-and-out action and thought that the wombat was showing other animals where to go for safety.

More likely, it's wishful thinking.  The world can be a pretty terrifying place lately.  It would be nice to think that someone is looking out for everyone else.