The caretaker of Dryandra told me that it was a really bad idea for us all to shine a torch into the hollow log to see the numbat. At this time of year, in the breeding season, there could have been babies inside. The mother might have then considered the hiding place unsafe and moved them elsewhere, which itself was quite a dangerous thing to do.
This is what we were hoping to see. They are an endangered species, active during the day, so they rely on their stripey back to act as camouflage. Numbats have long, slender sticky tongues (approx 10-11 cm long) that they use to flick into narrow cavities to collect termites.
Later that day, we spotted another one scampering around in the bush. I managed to film a short video which is on my Instagram.
Lovely little creatures.
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