Before the arrival of Europeans and the foxes and cats they introduced, bandits lived among ants (Myrmicobius fasciatus), also called numbats, is distributed throughout most of southern and western Australia. However, habitat destruction and hungry new arrivals have decimated their numbers so dramatically that the species remains only in two small nature reserves in the western part of the country. Climate change may ultimately jeopardize their survival in the wild in the future. As a study conducted by Christine Cooper of Curtin University and her team in the Journal of Experimental Biology points out:: Rising temperatures will likely cause species to reach an evolutionary dead end.
Numbats are diurnal marsupials and their main diet consists of termites, which they feed under dead wood and in the soil. Because they consume few calories, ant sacs develop fur over time that retains heat well. This saves them energy that they would otherwise have to use to maintain their body temperature. However, the increasing heat in their habitat now means that the animals can only forage for food for short periods of time so as not to overheat. However, they cannot avoid the night, for their prey then retreats deep into the ground, where they are out of the reach of even the long tongues of the anthers.
The working group discovered this with the help of thermal images of fifty bandit ants while they were hunting. At the same time, they collected weather data such as temperature and humidity in the animals' areas. The scientists then entered this data into a computer model that they used to calculate how environmental conditions affected the numbat's body temperature. On dry, warm days, marsupials are forced to stop foraging after only ten minutes of exposure to sunlight and retreat into the shade until their body values return to normal: their body temperatures quickly rise to 40 degrees Celsius.
This means a double risk for the animals: if average temperatures continue to rise, they may overheat more frequently and more seriously and die as a result. The period of time during which they search for food is also shortening: due to the lack of food, their immune defenses can deteriorate and they can raise fewer offspring. When they weaken, they also become easier prey for cats and foxes.
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