Graham and I spent most of the day at Perth Zoo. It was a lovely day for it.
This cute creature is a numbat. It’s Western Australia’s animal emblem. The numbat, also called a banded anteater, is a small endangered marsupial animal native to parts of Australia. They have long sticky tongues that allow them pick up termites, which they eat exclusively.
Numbats are under threat from habitat loss and introduced predators such as foxes and feral cats. The estimated population of numbats in the wild is fewer than 1000.
Perth Zoo has established a Native Species Breeding Program which breeds numbats for release into protected habitats. Since 1993 over 220 Numbats bred at the Zoo have been released into the wild.
My father-in-law ( RIP ) was an expert on termites. He lived in Perth, and played a part in trying to save these beautiful creatures from extinction in the wild.
That's a marvellous shot of him. But what a dreadful statistic and an awful example of our devastating effect on much of our wildlife. Feral cats have so much to answer for.
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Been to Perth three times- no idea there is a zoo!!!
Stunning photo