A MARVELOUS MARSUPIAL
By, J.E. Rogers
This week I want to introduce you to a beautiful little
creature that I love and have anthropomorphized and used in two of my books, The Sword of Demelza, and The Gift of Sunderland. In The
Sword of Demelza, we meet Aldon, a Guardian of the Forest and benign
sorcerer. He watches over the animals of the Forest and guides them. In The
Gift of Sunderland, another powerful numbat appears. His name is
Waylond Ayers, and he is a reluctant hero who finally answers the calling of
the Forest, and becomes Guardian. In the final book, The Last Ayer, we meet,
Keera. She is a young orphaned numbat who lives a protected life until her past
is unexpectedly revealed. All the
marvelous sketches you see below are in my books and are the creation of Guy Atherfold. My books are all
available on Amazon as well as
other online retailers.
Aldon, Guardian of the Forest
The Sword of Demelza
Waylond Ayers – The Gift
of Sunderland
Keera & Griffin – The Last
Ayer
A real numbat looks like this:
Photo credit: Perth Zoo, Australia –
Martin Pot
The Numbat, which is also known as the Banded Anteater, is a marsupial indigenous
to Australia. This is a graceful, lovely looking marsupial that has sharp snout
and ears. Its reddish fur has light and dark bands across its back and down to
the base of its tail.
Photo credit: Arkive.org © Getty images
Inside its pointy snout, the Numbat’s tongue is long and sticky, thus
enabling it to poke into crevices in logs and rocks searching for its favorite
food—termites. This carnivorous marsupial loves a meal of termites or white
ants. An adult Numbat will eat over 20,000 termites in one day.
Photo credit: John Gould, F.R.S., Mammals of Australia,
Vol. I Plate 52, London, 1863.
Numbats are gentle and solitary animals, active mostly by day, taking a
break from foraging to sleep in an old log or fallen tree. They have a very bushy
tail, which they carry erect and fluffed out like a bottlebrush. A black stripe
runs along the sides of their face and passes through the eye toward its ears.
Photo credit: Arkive.org – ©Sharon
Womleaton
“Once
widespread across southern Australia, its range is now restricted to several
small colonies, and it is listed as an endangered
species. The numbat is an emblem of Western Australia and protected by
conservation programs.” (Wikipedia- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbat)
So, why
are they endangered? The best way to answer this question is to consider the
animal’s history. Australia is pretty much isolated from the rest of the world.
Many species of animals that developed there did so independently from other
animals around the globe. Australian animals are so different; consider the
kangaroo and the platypus, or the koala. But Australia wasn’t isolated forever.
Over two hundred years ago, settlers from other parts of the world came to Australia
to live. They brought dogs and cats with them, and they deliberately released
foxes. The Numbat is a slow-moving animal, and unfortunately, it was easily
caught and no match for these introduced species.
Many
people on the continent of Australia are working hard to protect this unusual creature
in its natural habitat by making sure that the woodlands in which they live
remain undisturbed.
To
read more about the Numbat, visit the following websites:
Here is a video in which you will see a mature Numbat out foraging.
I do hope you have enjoyed this week’s post. Please visit again, and
feel free to leave a comment or share. Thank you.
Enjoy!
Jeanne E.
Rogers, Award Winning Author
The Sword of
Demelza, The Gift of Sunderland
and
One Hot Mess, A
Child’s Environmental Fable
Where Endangered
Animals Heroes Roam the Pages!
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