They’re skittish, have a penchant for termites, and there’s fewer than 1 000 of them left. Numbats were once widespread across Australia. But today, the indigenous marsupials have all but disappeared from the country.
The two remaining wild populations of numbats live in the Dryandra Woodland and Perup Nature Reserve. Here, the solitary creatures find shelter in hollow trees and logs. As one of few diurnal marsupials, numbats are active during the daytime. They are insectivorous and eat exclusively termites, consuming up to 20 000 a day. A numbat’s long, sticky tongue is designed to capture the insects, and since they don’t need to chew much, they have pegs for teeth.
In the circle of life, a numbat falls prey to natural predators such as hawks, falcons, eagles, and reptiles. But with the introduction of foxes and feral cats, the numbat population has plummeted. Saving the species is contingent on restoring balance to the ecosystem.
Footage by the Numbat Task Force was used in the creation of this film.
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