LEUNG_JL_SMALL+SEA+WOMBAT

<<Modern Animal

=Coast Wombat //(Vombatus Litus)//=

Scientific Classification

 * ==== **Kingdom** ==== || ==== Animalia ==== ||
 * ==== **Phylum** ==== || ==== Chordata ==== ||
 * ==== **Class** ==== || ==== Mammalia ==== ||
 * ==== **Order** ==== || ====D iprotodontia ==== ||
 * ==== **Family** ==== || ==== Vombatidae ==== ||
 * ==== **Genus** ==== || ==== Vombatus ==== ||
 * ==== **Species** ==== || ==== Litus ==== ||

Environment/Habitat
Coastal wombats will come to existence in 15 million years. As Australia will drift upwards due to continental drift, it will be distributed along the coastal regions of Northeastern Australia, as it prefers to live in semi-arid areas with tropic climate. The wombats will live in burrows under the beaches. Like its ancestors, diprotodon and common wombat, coastal wombats will be nocturnal animals, and their burrows will allow the wombats to have proper rest during the day, as these burrows are hidden underground, thus hiding them away from their predators.

It will be a semi-aquatic animal and a herbivore, its habitat will be abundant of its food necessities of aquatic plants, as it will feed entirely on seaweed, it just has to go undersea to fetch some. On average, coastal wombats graze for 4 to 8 hours a day.

Picture
Retrieved from: []
 * [[image:400px-Australia-climate-map_MJC01 (1).jpg width="640" height="503"]] ||
 * Figure 1: Picture showing aspects of the Coastal wombat habitat/environment

Further edited by: James Leung ||

Structural Adaptation
To protect and hide itself from aquatic predators, the coastal wombat will have a spiral shell linked to its tail. The spiral shell will be large enough for the coastal wombat to fit itself inside. To the wombat's aquatic predators, the wombat's spiral shell can be easily mistaken as a normal spiral sea shell, thus, it will swim away and stop bothering the coastal wombat. The shell will be regrown if it is detached by its predator.

Behavioral Adaptation
To cool down without a sweat gland in Australia's hot and arid environment, the shedding of the coastal wombats thick fur coat allows it to survive in such a harsh environment without dehydrating, exhausting and suffering from heat stroke.

Physiological Adaptation
Unlike its ancestors, diprotodon and common wombat, who were dependent on smell to navigate. The coastal wombat has excellent vision. Its eyes can zoom in and out to locate and find its food or check for aquatic predators advancing to the wombat itself. As the eyes of the Coastal Wombat are able to change colors, thus it is able to scare away its predators from approaching.

Selection Pressure
The selection pressure of the common wombat evolving into the coastal wombat is because of Earth's changing environment. An example would be global warming, where increasing the Earth temperature and the rising sea levels have annihilated many animals, where the competition of food between the remaining surviving animals becomes more hectic and chaotic. If the common wombat stayed at its original form, the common wombat population would have quickly decimated as it would not be able to adapt to the new anatomy, physiological and behavioral features food and a new habitat, thus inflating the risk of extinction. In contrast, if the common wombat will evolve into the coastal wombat, its would be able to survive the adapt to the new environment. 

Structural Diagram
Source: //James Leung// ||
 * [[image:sdrtfg.jpeg width="560" height="341"]] ||
 * Figure 2: //Diagram showing all the adaptations of the coastal wombat//