Numbat
The numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus) is a marsupial from open woodlands in western Australia. It is also called the banded anteater, because it eats termites.
| Numbat [1] | |
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| Numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus) | |
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| Scientific classification | |
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| Family: | Myrmecobiidae
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| Genus: | Myrmecobius
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| Binomial name | |
| Myrmecobius fasciatus | |
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| Numbat range (green — native, pink — reintroduced) | |
It is unusual in being one of the few diurnal (daytime) marsupials. It has no pouch, but the mother carries round her four young on her stomach. At night, they take shelter in hollow logs. The numbat has a life span of 5–6 years under human care.
These solitary, long-tailed termite-eaters are in danger of extinction; very few remain in the wild. When Europeans arrived, the numbat was found across the New South Wales and Victorian borders west to the Indian Ocean, and as far north as the southwest corner of the Northern Territory. It was at home in a wide range of woodland and semiarid habitats.
The deliberate release of the European red fox in the 19th century wiped out the entire numbat population in Victoria, NSW, South Australia and the Northern Territory, and almost all numbats in Western Australia, as well. By the late 1970s, the population was well under 1,000 individuals, concentrated in two small areas far from Perth, Dryandra, and Perup.
The numbat is the emblem of Western Australia.
Numbat Media
Thylacinus cynocephalus white background
The zoology of the voyage of the H.M.S. Erebus and Terror (Sminthopsis leucopus)
Phascogale calura Gould white background
Dasyurus viverrinus Gould white background
A numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus) at Perth Zoo
Historical range map of the numbat with extinctions shown in yellow (1800–1910), orange (1910–1930), green (1930–1960), and blue (1960–1980), and with its remaining range shown in black
Adult numbat at Perth Zoo
Trap set to monitor the wild population in the Dryandra Woodland
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References
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Wikispecies has information on: Myrmecobius fasciatus. |
- ↑ Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M., eds. (2005). Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
- ↑ Friend, T. & Burbidge, A. (2008). Myrmecobius fasciatus. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2008. Retrieved on 8 October 2008.