(P1) The numbat is one of Australia's most unique and endangered marsupials. With fewer than 1,000 left in the wild, these small striped creatures are actually rarer than pandas. Once found across southern Australia, numbats now survive naturally in only two small areas of Western Australia.
What Makes Numbats Special
(P2) Numbats are truly one-of-a-kind animals. Unlike most Australian marsupials that are active at night, numbats are strictly diurnal. They have striking red-grey fur with black and white bands, a bushy tail, and pointy ears. When they move, they do so with odd jerky movements that help confuse predators like hawks and falcons.
(P3) These small marsupials weigh only about 500g when fully grown and have a very specialized diet - they eat nothing but termites! A single numbat needs to eat around 20,000 termites every day, and females with babies need even more.
Adapting to Survive
(P4) Numbats have developed some clever adaptations to help them survive. Their striped coat provides camouflage that works especially well when they're moving. They also have a special fur structure that allows them to capture and retain heat from the sun more efficiently than any other mammal.
(P5) To save energy during cold nights, numbats enter a state called torpor - a short-term hibernation where they lower their body temperature to as low as 19°C. This helps them conserve energy when food is harder to find.
(P6) Female numbats reproduce once a year, having up to four babies at a time. These joeys develop in a very basic pouch, and when they're old enough, the mother digs a burrow for them lined with bark and leaves. She'll continue to protect them for about six months, using her thick-skinned rump to block the entrance of the nest from predators like pythons, goannas, and chuditch (native quolls).
Fighting for Survival
(P7) The main reason numbats have become endangered is predation by introduced foxes and cats. In Western Australia, conservation efforts have focused on using a poison called 1080 against these predators. This poison comes from a naturally occurring toxin found in many Western Australian plants, so native animals have evolved resistance to it, but introduced foxes and cats haven't.
(P8) Dr. Tony Friend, a government ecologist, has been instrumental in saving numbats from extinction. He identified foxes as the major cause of numbat decline in the early 1980s and helped develop the Western Shield wildlife recovery program. When fox numbers were reduced, numbat populations initially increased, but then began to drop again as cats became more numerous. A new program targeting feral cats began in 2012, and numbat numbers are now climbing again in several Western Australian sites.
(P9) In eastern Australia, where native animals aren't resistant to 1080 poison, conservation groups like the Australian Wildlife Conservancy have been using predator-proof fences to protect numbats. They've successfully established populations at Yookamurra Sanctuary in South Australia and Scotia property in New South Wales, with more recent releases in Mallee Cliffs National Park.
Everyday Heroes
(P10) Conservation isn't just the work of scientists. Ordinary people like Rob McLean, a truck driver, and John Lawson, a caretaker at Dryandra Village, have made significant contributions to numbat protection. They helped found the Numbat Task Force and successfully fought against a proposed rubbish tip near Dryandra that would have attracted cats and threatened the numbat population.
(P11) Their passion for protecting numbats earned them the Australian Geographic Society's Conservationist of the Year Award in 2018. As Rob explains, "We don't want our grandchildren growing up in a world without numbats. We want them to be able to see and appreciate these extraordinary little creatures."
(P12) Thanks to the combined efforts of scientists, conservation organizations, and dedicated individuals, there's hope that these fascinating striped marsupials will continue to scurry through Australia's woodlands for generations to come.