Two hairy-nosed, bucktoothed Australians are moving to Toronto (they’re wombats)

The Toronto Zoo will soon receive two orphaned, 14-month-old southern hairy-nosed wombats (unfortunately, yes, that is the actual name) as part of its plan to lure crowds using cuddly baby animals new wombat breeding program. Based on photos in the Toronto Star, these furry-snouted marsupials won’t be the zoo’s cutest residents, but they could be the ones to cause the most diplomatic hoopla: it took five years to organize the import and the animals will land in Canada by way of Chicago, where they were under a 30-day quarantine after their arrival from Australia. The ordeal will culminate in an official wombat handoff involving the Canadian consul general and his Australian counterpart this Wednesday. It’s still unclear if the handover will be literal or figurative. [Toronto Star]