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A COMPLICATED dance, a bite on the rump and ferocious backward kicks are all part of the wombat's lovemaking repertoire, a new study has revealed.

Until recently, there were no recorded observations of mating between wombats.

But the director of Nocturnal Wildlife Research Ltd, biologist Clive Marks, found that wombats were more likely than the average Australian male to emulate moves from the Kama Sutra.

Mr Marks, whose findings are to be published this week, says the first successful captive breeding of wombats was recorded in Hanover, Germany, in 1982.

"With absolute precision, details of the wombat's sex life were recorded and, surprisingly, it seemed anything but modest," he says.

"It appeared to be a physically demanding process, complete with chasing, biting, grunting and loads of heavy breathing."

Then in 1990, Mr Marks filmed the first common wombat courtship and mating in captivity in Australia, at Tonimbuk Farm in Gippsland.

"The female, after a prolonged period of copulation in the same position, broke away and began to trot in a pattern of circles and figures of eight," he says. "The male chased her, following closely behind, and then bit her on the rump."

Space seems to be the key. Mr Marks says without the "hard to get" figure-of-eight dance, the female will not allow the male to mount.