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Orphaned Baby Wombats Play In Australia Sanctuary (VIDEO)

The Huffington Post   First Posted: 01/19/12 12:59 PM ET Updated: 01/19/12 12:59 PM ET

Belle and Phoenix just might be the cutest wombats ever.

After being rescued, Belle was taken to Healesville Sanctuary in Australia, where she currently lives with her best friend, Phoenix, another orphaned wombat.

As featured on Vice's "The Cute Show," Felicity Fahey, a keeper at Healesville, explains that Belle came to the refuge after her mother was hit and killed by a car. When Fahey's not chasing her "beautiful monsters," she can be found feeding, playing or even singing to them.

The best part of the video has to be when the two wombats simultaneously dive into a tunnel that's too small for both of them, the two fighting until one finally wiggles in front of the other.

According to National Geographic, wombats inhabit Australia and surrounding islands. They give birth to tiny, undeveloped young that crawl into pouches on their mothers' bellies. The infant lives in its mother's pouch for five months before striking out on its own. By seven months, the wombat can fully take care of itself.

Can't get enough of these cute chubby wombats? Check out this video of a baby wombat taking its first step or read about how, in July, scientists uncovered the most complete fossil to date of an ancient rhinoceros-sized relative of the wombat.

Watch Belle and Phoenix scurry, scuttle and play in their new home in the adorable video above.

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Three cheetah cubs, born in November 2004, lean against their mother during a preview showing at the National Zoo in February 2005 in Washington D.C. Today there are just 12,400 cheetahs remaining in the wild, with the biggest population, totaling 2,500 living in Namibia.
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Belle and Phoenix just might be the cutest wombats ever. After being rescued, Belle was taken to Healesville Sanctuary in Australia, where she currently lives with her best friend, Phoenix, anothe...
Belle and Phoenix just might be the cutest wombats ever. After being rescued, Belle was taken to Healesville Sanctuary in Australia, where she currently lives with her best friend, Phoenix, anothe...
 
 
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
graceland9
...and talk in the past and not the present tense.
10:12 PM on 03/01/2012
Who knew wombats were so cute? They are lovely!
02:27 PM on 01/27/2012
The photographs are magnificent. I wonder how it's possible to hurt such magnificent animals.
02:25 PM on 01/27/2012
Those wombats are real cute. They are adorable.
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07:07 PM on 01/21/2012
Adorable
05:39 PM on 01/21/2012
why aren't these animals released back to the wild
07:54 PM on 01/21/2012
They might be too young. An adult wombat is about the size of a medium sized dog. These are pretty small still.
12:18 AM on 01/22/2012
ok
05:37 PM on 01/21/2012
HOW CUTE CAN IT BE, LORDY I WANT ONE....MAN ARE THEY THE CAT'S MEOW.
llwlknsn
Adequate words fail me.
02:44 PM on 01/21/2012
The video is inactive.
04:49 PM on 01/21/2012
I clicked on the link and immediately got some farging commercial with rap-crap music and KNEW it wasn't worth the pain and plugged 'Baby Wombat' into YouTube and the FIRST video is pretty cute!
01:57 PM on 01/21/2012
When I was in Australia I was walking out of the door of some tourist trap and someone put this thing in my arms. It turned out to be a wombat and it was very docile and liked to be petted. It was an unusual experience.
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01:17 PM on 01/21/2012
The advertisement was so annoying I stopped the video before seeing the baby wombats.
04:50 PM on 01/21/2012
EXACTLY!!!
Farging wrap music.
06:03 PM on 01/21/2012
farging not sure what that is) but i won't watch video if preceeded by commercial, huff post take your commericials and shove them.
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05:09 PM on 01/21/2012
Same here thats aol for you they need all the adverts they can get because they are losing so much money.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
gloriaswanson43
Ask and you will get more info.
01:16 PM on 01/21/2012
Sweet.
01:14 PM on 01/21/2012
LOVE
01:01 PM on 01/21/2012
They look like little grizzly bears
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
morekare
11:50 AM on 01/21/2012
God bless these animals and God bless the people who dedicate their lives to caring for all animals. God's innocent creatures are beautiful.
11:16 AM on 01/21/2012
They are beautiful
09:37 AM on 01/21/2012
Too cute! They look like a cross between a panda and a woodchuck lol!