How do numbats adapt life for survival?

Answer 1

Adaptations of the numbat which help their survival include:

• Numbats feed almost exclusively on termites, although they will sometimes eat other types of ants. Therefore, they have sharp claws for digging into termite mounds, although they prefer to dig out termites from under logs and underground.
• Numbats have an acute sense of smell, being able to detect termites with their very sensitive noses.
• They have a long, thin, sticky tongue for collecting the termites.
• They also have a long snout for shuffling through leaf litter to help find food.
• The stripes on the numbat's back and across its eyes help it to camouflage effectively in its bushland habitat.
• Because numbats are relatively defenceless, they hide by digging short burrows, or shelter in hollow logs and fallen trees.
• Termites do not provide a high level of nutrition, so numbats have a lower basal metabolic rate than other mammals of their size.

Answer 2

Because they are mammals, numbats mainly care for their young by suckling them on mothers' milk. Numbats are marsupials, so their young, which are called joeys, are born extremely undeveloped and completely helpless.

Unlike most marsupials, numbats do not have a pouch for the young. The joeys cling to the mother's underbelly fur whilst attached to a teat. The teat swells in the joey's mouth, securing it in place. When the joeys become too large and heavy to stay attached to the mother's underbelly, at about six months old, they are transferred to a burrow where they remain until they are old enough to be weaned and fend for themselves.