Numbat

The numbat is Western Australia's state emblem for mammals.

Numbats are diurnal (active in the day). To see this cutie you will have to walk around wandoo or Jarrah woodlands in places like Dryandra in the wheatbelt near Narrogin or Perup in the south-west.

Numbats don't have a pouch but they are a marsupial. They have a fold of skin with four teats where the new-borns attach. Later they may ride on her back for a while and as the get even bigger they will be left in a log or burrow. They will forage with their mother until they are around nine months old.

They are in their own family Myrmecobiidae.

Its body length is approx 20cm-27cm long, its tail is approx 16.5cm-21cm long.

An adult weighs between 300-715 grams. Other text say they weigh between 280-550grams.

Photographs are of a male numbat taken at Perth Zoo. No other numbat will have his exact markings.

Numbat skull

Upper Jaw was 5.7cmL x 3cmW

The upper jaw has a total of 8 incisors, 2 canines, and 14-16 cheek teeth (the term cheek teeth is used when its hard to distinguish the premolars from the molars). Numbats have over 50 teeth but they don't use them as an adult.

Lower Jaw

The lower jaw has 3 incisors, 2 canines and 16-19 cheek teeth.

These photographs were taken at the Western Australian Museum.

A numbat will dig small roundish to conical holes with its front feet in search of termite runways just below the soils surface. They do not break open the hard termite mound. They will pull apart termite infested logs as they are brittle.

The numbat walks, trots or bounds. Its tracks are similar to the Western Quolls tracks. You wouldn't find numbat tracks that often as they live in a wooded area with bark and leaf litter on the ground but you could see tracks on the dirt road verges.

The numbats tongue is nearly half as long as its head and body enabling the tongue to not only go into a passage or tunnel that it has dug up full of termites but to reach them by twisting around corners.

In winter numbats only come out to feed for around an hour in the warmest part of the day although this may vary in different climates or seasons. It's thought that they go into a torpor which is a lowering of their bodies temperature and metabolic rate, using less energy to sustain it.

Numbat Scats

Numbat scats have a high soil content due to the soil sticking to the tongue when it feeds on termites. Other insects can also stick to the tongue when feeding.

The tail looks naked underneath and is held at different positions depending on what the numbat is doing.

Can you see the baby numbats face as it hides inside the log (on the right hand side of the photo)?

They nest in a hollow log on the ground lined with shredded bark. They may also leave the bigger babies behind in a burrow 1-2 metres in length where they will stay at the far end of the burrow while she feeds.

A numbat will protect her young in a log such as this log photographed at Dryandra Woodlands by pushing its rump into the entrance and blocking the hole. This could cause serious injury to the numbat if a fox or feral cat is attacking it. Although they wouldn't use a log that has a hole at both ends, these logs would be used when they are running away from a predator.

I noticed the numbat enjoyed lying down in the sun for brief moments. This was in March. It laid down like a Bull Terrier dog with its hind legs out straight pointing backwards and dragged itself forward a few steps with its front feet while still lying in that position. It also seemed to enjoy a good scratch and would scratch itself with its hind foot like a dog.

On the chest you can see a red patch that looks like blood. This is the males sexual gland that goes red when it is sexually active. It fades when it is not the breeding season.

Update;

While driving near sunset through Dryandra woodlands in October I saw this female numbat. I stopped the car and enjoyed watching her through the window as she was right near the side of the road. (I had no zoom facility on the camera I was using)

I then crept out of the car and hid behind trees getting closer and closer and then I saw another younger numbat not far away and as I approached it dived into the log (pictured above). The mother went away and returned with a second young one on her back and now I was no less than 2 metres from her.

I saw them just before 5pm and they all went into the log at 5.50pm so I had 50 wonderful minutes of being right up close observing these peaceful gentle animals.

She wasn't radio collared for numbat research.

Numbat Habitat

Here at Dryandra the Numbats are living in Wandoo woodlands. It is dry with a lot of bark from the Wandoo trees covering the ground. There isn't a lot of understorey or ground covers.

Dryandra is on the western edge of the wheatbelt. There is also farming in the district with little unprotected woodlands in the area.