A STRANGE ANIMAL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18857, 9 May 1923, Page 10

A STRANGE ANIMAL

THE ANT-EATING NUMBAT.

AUSTRALIA’S LINK WITH DIM AGES,

(Fbom Ode Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, April 21. Amongst al! the strange creatures which make Australia a' happy hunting ground for the zoologist the most extraordinary is a tiny marsupial which survives in Western Australia, but which is rapidly nearing extinction It is said to be the solo living link with the dim past when our planet first began to boast of animal ' inhabitants. The earliest fossilised remains of animals known to scientists are placed in the Eocene period, and are those of the order microlestes. In the south ,of Western Australia there lives this curious marsupial measuing perhaps a foot from the point of his nose to the end of his long tail, and wearing a-transversely striped coat of white and brown, who can dearly claim descent from the microlestes —millions of years back among the ages. This interesting little animal, whose name is numbat, ‘ though to science ho isrknown as mynecobious sasyiatus, was once plentiful in the Williams district, but land settlement and consequently clearing , is proceeding so rapidly that he is likely to he extinct within a few years. Last week the, Premier of Western .Australia received a numbat as a present from a member of Tarlipiaent from that part of the State, and after inspecting the little fellow ho sent him across to the Zoological Gardens. The Curator (Mr Lo Souef) stated subsequently that he was turning the new arrival loose in the gardens. “Wc cannot afford to keen him in captivity,” he explained. ‘‘for he lives entirely on ants, and it would take three men at 15s each per dav to collect sufficient food for him.” The numbat has the largest number of teeth of ‘ any known animal—nearly 80. Unfortunately Australia’s wonderful animals and birds have been all too poorly appreciated. ’ ' Prohibition of export, which has just been imposed, has, it is feared, come too' late to save many interesting species from extinction. Some timely remarks on this subject were made by n visiting American ornithologist, Colonel Casey Woods, of New York, on his arrival oti a visit to ■ Australia’'4 few days ago. He said that in his opinion we have in Australia the rarest and most wonderful collection of birds to be found in any one country. The lyre bird, with its 'wonderful plumage and its power of mockery', which surpasses even that of the American mocking bird, is one of the most interesting birds to be found, anywhere. The old superstition about our birds, being songlesa is still extant in many places, but Colonel Woods hopes, by lecturing in America, to disrel some popular illusions about our fauna. He, is strongly opposed to the wanton destruc-’ tinn of bird life which is now permitted,with so-called sportsmen having heavv- , powered ■ guns • against defenceless birds. These birds, he says, should be preserved, not only for sentimental reasons, but also on account of their tremendous value to the country. In his opinion the best way to preserve the birds is not so much by the passing of Jaws, but by the appointment of nature teachers, as in America, to take the children out into the country, where they may make ‘‘friends” with the birds.