The marsupial that eats 20,000 termites a day with useless teeth
This animal eats twenty thousand termites every single day, and its teeth barely work.
Which one is REALLY true about the Numbat?
The short version
The numbat is a small striped marsupial from Western Australia and the only one active purely by day, because that is when termites are reachable. It has a sticky tongue almost half its body length, blunt useless teeth, does not chew, and never drinks — taking all its water from the termites themselves.
Why it's so weird
- ✓The Numbat eats around twenty thousand termites every single day.
- ✓The Numbat is the only marsupial active purely in daylight, because that is when termites are easiest to reach.
- ✓The Numbat times its hunting for when the sun has warmed the soil and the termites come closer to the surface.
- ✓The Numbat has a narrow sticky tongue almost half the length of its own body, which it flicks deep into termite galleries.
- ✓The Numbat never drinks, taking every drop of water it needs from the termites themselves.
You could line up about 5 of them along a 7-year-old!
The full story
This animal eats twenty thousand termites a day, and it barely has working teeth. Meet the numbat, a small striped marsupial from Western Australia, and the only marsupial that is active purely in daylight. That is because termites are easiest to reach when the sun has warmed the soil. It has a narrow sticky tongue almost half the length of its own body, which it flicks deep into termite galleries. Its teeth are small, blunt and essentially useless, and it does not really chew at all. Numbats also never drink, taking every drop of water they need from the termites themselves. Once found across southern Australia, they now survive in only a couple of wild populations. Follow for more weird animal facts.
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“The Numbat eats around twenty thousand termites every single day.”
“The Numbat is the heaviest bony fish on the entire planet.”
“The Numbat is the only marsupial active purely in daylight, because that is when termites are easiest to reach.”