Numbat

__ //**N**// umbats__ The **numb****ats** seems like such a small, unimportant, little creature. Can you think of what role it might play in the Australian woodland ecosystem?  //**E**// ven though the numbats seems small, unimportant and a little creature the numbats helps our ecosystem because they eat only ants and termites and they have at least 10,000 of them each day. So if the numbats extinct there would be lots of termites and ants so the termites would eat anything that are made out of wood and that would destroy our trees so if we don't have any trees we won't have papers, pencils, wooden tables, clean oxygen and e.t.c.That might be the role that a numbat would play in the Australian woodland ecosystem. The European fox was introduced to Australia by people for sport hunting as well as to control rats and rabbits. Rabbits were introduced by people wanting an easy animal to hunt and familiar food animal. Rats came as stowaways aboard ships. Foxes, rabbits, and rats have all had devastating effects, both as predators and competitors, on native Australian plants and animals. Do you think it will be possible to control these introduced species and reverse these trends? //** W **//e think it's impossible to control these introduced species and reverse these trends because the first European settlers arrived in Australia in the past 200 years. They introduced dogs, cats and foxes to the Australians. The dogs, cats and foxes killed a lot of numbats because they are slow creatures and they are easy to catch. So if the dogs, cats and foxes keep on hunting the numbats their wouldn't be any left and the trmittes and ants would over populate and the termites would destroy anything that are made out of wood. Thats why we think that the introduced species can't reverse the trends.

__** //A// bout Numbats**__  **//T//** he numbat is also called the //** [|__marsupial__] **// anteater, is a small, slow moving oddity of Australia//**.**// The numbat has a reddish brown body banded with white and black eye stripes on a delicate tapering head, give it a striking appearance. Numbats grow up to 10 inches (25cm) long. The numbat is now extinct throughout much of its range. It survives in the wild only in a small areas in the southwest corner of Australia.  Numbats do not have apouch, so the young, born blind hairless, must cling to the belly fur of their mother while they grow.

The numbats use their snouts to sniff the groung in search of food. Numbats only eats ants and termites they catch by using their long and sticky tongues. A numbat can eat as many as 10,000 ants and termites each day. Numbats mostly perfer open woodland //** [|__habitat__] **// dominated by eucalyptus trees. They are quick, light and fast and they can leap and also climb trees. Numbats uses hollow, fallen logs for shelter and nesting. Their habitat has been destroyed because of the bush fires that happend in the woodlands. //** T he numbat**//