A small, striped marsupial and the only marsupial fully active by day. It eats almost nothing but termites, licking them up with a long, sticky tongue. Once widespread across southern Australia, it is now endangered and survives in a few small colonies.
Quick answers
What is it?Mammal
Carnivore?Insects only
Dangerous?No
Domesticated?No
Awake when?Daytime
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?No
Do people eat it?No
At a glance
Found inAustralia
ColoursRed, White, Black
SizeSmall
Length35–45 cm, including the tail
Weight280–700 g
Legs4
Covered inFur
Lives alone
Lives for5–6 years
In the wild
- Where it lives
- Small colonies in Western Australia, plus fenced reserves in South Australia and New South Wales.
- What it eats
- Almost exclusively termites, up to 20,000 a day.
- Conservation
- Endangered (IUCN Red List)
Did you know
Eats up to 20,000 termites a day, and almost nothing else.
It is the faunal emblem of Western Australia.
It has the sharpest eyesight of any marsupial.
Often confused with
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