Like other Australian mammals the numbat is striking and not immediately place-able or recognizable to many non-Australians. Its name comes from an Aboriginal group in the Southern part of Australia. There is also another Aboriginal group that uses the name walpurti. Its also been called the banded anteater but that doesn’t make much sense because they don’t eat ants generally. When Europeans first arrived down under, they were present in large swaths of territory throughout the Central and Southern parts of the country whereas now they are only located in two tiny spots of territory in the Southwest.

These marsupials have 5 to 7 stripes across the lower back and a white-bordered black stripe that runs from the nose, through the eyes to the middle of the ears.

The numbats eat almost exclusively termites, so termites must be present for them to survive. To help them with their termite hunting, they posses a long sticky tongue of 4 in (10 cm). They may eat as many as 20,000 termites a day.

At night they retire to their nests which can be in an hollow tree or log, or else a borrow which they make comfortable with soft vegetation.