Female numbat in Brookton, Western Australia
© Martin Willis/Minden Picture
It's World Numbat Day!. World Numbat Day
OK, you might be asking: World What Day? Meet the nifty numbat! Though it's one of many marsupials found here in Western Australia, the numbat is unique, sharing no relation to any living species. It's also critically endangered: This cute specimen is one of fewer than 1,000 of its kind left in the wild.
Numbats behave a bit like Africa's meerkats or North America's prairie dogs, often standing on hind legs to furtively scan the surroundings for predators or hiding out in hollow logs or burrows. They've always got a nose to the ground, too, searching for nests of their favorite snack: tasty termites. A single numbat often slurps up 20,000 termites a day with its long, sticky tongue, something homeowners in Western Australia surely appreciate.
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