The blurb on the inside of the first book states that the Wombles
are "a bit like teddy bears to look at", and, indeed, that was how
the uillustrations in the first editions of The Wombles and The
Wandering Wombles portrayed them. Their appearance was changed for
the TV series to the familiar long pointy nosed creatures, at the
behest of Monica Sims, who ran BBC Children's programming at the time
the series was in production. She rejected several of Ivor Wood's
designs until he came up with one that she thought looked like a
Womble should look like. (This information came to light in a recent
article on Elisabeth Beresford so you can google it.)

I've always thought they were related to raccoons (procyon lotor)
because of the long nose and plump body - though they lack the bushy
tail and the "mask" on the face. Anyone who has had to deal with
raccoons knows they are very dextrous and very crafty. "Utterly
devious" in other words (as in the Wombling Song (Full Version)).
Their human-like hands have been known to open the latches on
camper's coolers. Plus raccoons have a very large variety and range
of vocalisations, which would come in handy should they attempt to
sing. And both are attracted to rubbish- but with different purposes
and outcomes.

Raccoons are related to panda bears and pandas aren't really bears in
a strict taxonomic sense so these two seem the best related family of
creatures into which one would put a womble. That gives you the
distinctness of a teddy bear while allowing for variation such as a
long nose. But then that is almost like saying that a gibbon is on
the same family tree as a gorilla and a chimpanzee. And Great Uncle
Bulgaria would be rather annoyed at the suggestion, insisting that
Wombles are Wombles as a genus unto themselves and not just a species
or sub-species of another genus.

So a full taxonomic description might looks as follows:
Kingdom: Animalia (Animals)
Phylum: Cordata (Cordates i.e. have spinal cord)
Sub Phylum: Vertebrata (have backbone)
Class: Mammalia (Mammals)
Order: Carnivora (Carnivore - have teeth and jaws suited to eating
meat)
Sub Order: Caniformia (body shape possibly, as canis is latin for dog)
Family: Procyonidae
Genus: Procyon
Species: Womblus (assumed Latin for Womble)
Sub Species: Wimbledonium (assumed Latin for Wimbledon)

And don't forget that there are water wombles ("Nessie") and giant
wombles (yeti, sasquatch, bigfoot?)!

Now some are going to take objection at the carnivore designation as
Wombles are vegetarian but placing them in the herbivore order really
complicates things. I like to think they are carnivores who have
chosen NOT to eat meat, preferring to respect the lives of their
fellow animals. Note that Wombles also cook their food - which would
certainly render vegetable matter more digestable.

If you insist on herbivore as a designation it practically eliminates
the possibility of well developed dextrous paws and simple digestive
systems.

That leaves these possibilities:
Rodentia (rodents)
Lagomorphs (rabbits)
Opossums
Hedgehogs
Wombats

Wombles are not rodents, despite popular misconception. Rodents have
prominent front teeth and must gnaw consistently as their teeth keep
growing. You couldn't furnish a burrow without gnawing at the
furniture or roof supports, which defeats the purpose of a burrow in
the first place.

Rabbits, while burrowing animals, also have the ever-growing teeth
problem. Plus they need to eat their meals twice to fully digest
them, which isn't very appealing to a creature that describes itself
as "tidy and clean".

Opossums are almost worth consideration since they do look a bit like
raccoons. But then there's the pink nose, the ratty tail, and the
fact they don't live in burrows.

Hedgehogs, on the other hand, appear more promising and there is a
blond species found almost exclusively on Alderney - coinicidently
the place where Elisabeth Beresford retired to. But Wombles aren't
spiny by any means, nor are they solitary creatures which hedgehogs
tend to be.

And I think the comparison with wombats is insulting - wombats have
very little intelligence whereas Wombles are very intelligent - aside
from one or two silly young Wombles we won't mention here. : )


Frederick


> --- On Wed, 18/6/08, charlie_steff <charliesteff@...> wrote:
>
> From: charlie_steff <charliesteff@...>
> Subject: [Wombles] what animal are the wombles if any
> To: Wombles@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Wednesday, 18 June, 2008, 7:24 PM
>
>
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>
> Well i think the Subject says it all but:
>
> what animal are the wombles if any as me and a friend have a bet
going
> and i need to win....Really i do need to win!!!
>
> Any help would be great ;)
>
> cheers
>
> charlie
>
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>
> __________________________________________________________
> Sent from Yahoo! Mail.
> A Smarter Email http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/nowyoucan.html
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>