Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows Dr Tony Friend, principal research scientist at Western Australia’s Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM) at Dryandra Woodland, WA. He is shown with a numbat that he has fitted with a radio collar as a way of monitoring the population. Footage of numbats is followed by Dr Friend examining a female with four young. Time lapse photography shows the semi-embryonic baby numbats developing while still attached to their mother’s teats. Footage of the mother foraging for food while her young hang onto her fur is included.

Educational value points

• The numbat, or banded anteater (Myrmecobius fasciatus), is a solitary, diurnal (active during the day) marsupial whose young are born blind and without fur, and cling to their mother’s teats while they grow. The young are born between January and March. When furred, though still unweaned, they are placed in an underground burrow while their mother hunts for termites, their main source of food. By October the young can fend for themselves and usually develop full independence by the end of their first year.

• It is believed that before European settlement of Australia numbats lived in great numbers across the southern half of the country, but land clearing and the introduction of foxes and cats saw their population crash. By the 1980s, numbats were threatened with extinction. Conservation projects have succeeded in increasing their numbers, but they are still listed as endangered under the Wildlife Conservation Act.

• Destruction of the numbat’s habitat, due to land clearing for agriculture and settlement, is one of the main reasons for the species’ endangered status. For the numbat to survive, its habitat requires a high concentration of termites, as well as trees that drop branches (such as the Eucalyptus wandoo), which can be used as refuges and nest sites.

• Foxes and feral cats have decimated many native species, including the numbat. Originally introduced by the British for the sport of fox hunting, the fox has had a devastating effect on numbat populations. An effective weapon in controlling both fox and feral cat populations is the use of a poison called 1080 (Sodium monofluoro-acetate), which is similar to a compound found in native plants called Gastrolobiums or 'poison peas’. Because native animals have evolved with these plants, they have a high tolerance for the poison, while introduced animals do not.

• Dryandra Woodland is part of the 'Return to Dryandra’ project, initiated by the WA Department of CALM to restore WA’s ecosystems and reintroduce endangered species to their former habitats. The Woodland has a predator-proof compound that provides a safe environment for numbats and other endangered species, such as the western barred bandicoot and rufus hare-wallabies.

• In 1973 the numbat was adopted as an emblem of WA, joining the black swan, the red and green kangaroo paw, and the gogo fish. States in Australia have a number of floral and faunal emblems, and the listing of the numbat may have served to raise its profile in the media and with politicians, and focus attention on saving it from extinction.

• Numbats is a documentary by Peter Du Cane, one of Australia’s most well-known and prolific producers and directors. Du Cane’s diverse body of work has attracted international acclaim and seven Australian Film Institute Awards. Besides Numbats, which was the first in-depth film study of the numbat in its natural habitat, his credits include, Hutan – Wildlife of the Malaysian Rain Forest, The Roo Gully Diaries, China from Within, Shipwreck Detectives, Playing the Game, The Human Race and Fearless: Stories from Asian Women.

This clip starts approximately 5 minutes into the documentary.

Dr Tony Friend sits on a log examining India, a pregnant numbat. Over the course of the clip, the babies grow and we see India moving around her natural habitat.
Narrator These are gentle creatures and Dr Tony Friend has devoted his life’s work to saving them.

To guard against further population crashes, Tony has fitted India and other numbats with radio collars and continues to monitor their progress.

Male numbats are solitary animals and only visit females to mate. This occurs in logs or burrows for a few weeks during the Australian summer.

After a gestation period of only 14 days, numbats give birth to a litter that usually comprises four young. The tiny babies are born in a semi-embryonic state.

Over the next few months, the babies slowly develop. India has two males and two females. The babies stay attached with a firm grip on her fur. All numbats are territorial and this corner of Dryandra Woodland is India’s territory. Throughout the autumn months, she moves about with the young clinging on beneath her.

Most Australian animals are nocturnal, so apart from birds and the occasional reptile, India encounters few other animals in her habitat.