Friday, March 2, 2012

Numbat




When I first read “numbat” I immediately thought “wombat.” Yes, this is another Australian mammal; Australia really has the unique ones. Not only are they adorable creatures but they are the only species in their family. There was another subspecies of numbat but they have been extinct since the 1960’s. Also, as a marsupial it is actually diurnal (awake during the day) even though most marsupials are all nocturnal. I might just classify the numbat as one of my favorite animals since it is so cute! It’s hard to believe that there are less than 1000 in the wild. They live in Wandoo (a type of Eucalyptus forest) in a very small portion of the southwestern tip of Australia.

Their Cuteness
Cute things usually come in small packages which is exactly the case with the numbat. They are very small, a little bit longer than a foot and half of that is just their bushy tail. They usually carry their tail up and all fluffed out. In my opinion, a numbat is like a cute squirrel with a pointer face. Numbats also have a tongue that is as long as its body! It also has more than 52 teeth that are all different sizes and shapes.



Food
Despite a tongue similar to the anteater the numbat’s diet consists mainly of termites. This is also why the numbat is the only Australian mammal awake during the day. Eating termites would be pretty hard to do in the middle of the night. Numbats need about 20,000 termites a day. They might eat an ant or two if there are any in the mound but their diet consists mostly of termites. They’ve even regulated their schedules to the schedules of termites. You won’t see numbats drinking water very often because they obtain all the water they need from the termites.



Lack of Sexy Time
Eating termites really puts the numbats at a disadvantage for relationships. Termites are small and the numbat isn’t strong enough to break termite mounds. This means that they wait for the termites to move. For this reason numbats are very solitary animals. You just can’t have a crowd waiting for termites to make their “big move.” Numbats will get together around February or March to reproduce and the female is pregnant for only 15 days!



Kiddos
Numbats are a very unique marsupial in that they don’t have a pouch for their young. Instead, the numbat will give birth to its 4 babies and then the babies will crawl up to the mother’s nipples and just hang there until July or August. After that they spend most of their time in a burrow. Slowly picking up the termite diet a month after. Then in December they hit the road.



Why are they Endangered?
Foxes. A lot of people don’t understand the severity of invasive species and what it does to the current population of animals. The fox was introduced to Australia and ever since then the numbats have been declining. In addition to foxes are wild and domestic cats, all predators to the numbats. Being prey is even harder when you don’t have anywhere to hide. Frequent fires turn possible shelters to dust and leave the numbat exposed.



What is there to Do?
Luckily, Australians seem to really care about their endangered species. The numbat is an emblem to them so there are already a lot of conservation efforts in effect. There have been multiple successful reintroductions to protected areas. Breeding programs are also in effect at zoos like Australia’s Perth Zoo. Locals also monitor predators in the area. A great program called Project Numbat has raised over 26,000 dollars for the numbat. Radio collars give researchers a better estimate of where the numbat goes and where they can focus conservation efforts.  Also, add them to your list of favorite animals, share your love of the numbat and maybe the numbats will still be here!

Project Numbat

Baby Numbat videos (you know you want to)



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