Numbat: Myrmecobiidae

Numbats mainly eat termites—their pointed snouts allow them to sniff out the insects underground. They then use their sharp claws to dig small holes and retrieve the termites from underground tunnels using their long, slender tongues. The numbat's tongue can extend as much as 4 inches (10 centimeters) from its mouth. Saliva on the tongue makes the termites stick to it, so that the numbat can quickly pull its tongue back into its mouth with the termites attached. The numbat's salivary glands are large to provide enough saliva for this kind of eating. Another way that numbats find termites is by turning over fallen branches and sticks using their snout and front paws. A numbat that was studied in captivity ate between 10,000 and 20,000 termites per day. In the course of eating termites, ants and other insects sometimes also are consumed. Numbats do not chew their food, even though they have more teeth (between forty-eight and fifty-two of them) than any other marsupial.