NATURE

t was a dreadful case of mistaken identity. European explorers confused Lena is special among numbats. Since she them for ravenous cats, rats, wolves started breeding four years ago, she has and weasels. But they were something raised fifteen babies to adulthood; Icompletely unknown … a curious band of a record for the wild numbats of Western marsupials with a taste for blood, bone Australia. This season’s young are already and meat. venturing far from the nest.

Scores of different little predators with So far, so good. pouches live all across Australia. The lives of many are at risk. Introducing three of But in the night, in the woodland, there the strangest; the numbat, the northern is danger. Another carnivorous marsupial quoll, the dibbler; and the strangers who has sniffed out Lena’s burrow and it finds want to keep them safe. numbats very tasty!

Lena the numbat knows every sound and Across Australia other little carnivores smell in her territory. This morning she come to life. hears footsteps through the undergrowth and a distant beeping sound. Ranger Brian On a windswept-island floating in the is heading her way. Somehow, she is con- azure Indian Ocean, a cute little mouse- nected to this man. Could it be something sized dibbler pulls grasshoppers apart to do with the ring-thing around her neck? with needle-sharp teeth. The dibbler was thought to be extinct. This is the first time Ranger Brian holds his antenna high. Lena it has been filmed in the wild. is being evasive. Her signal is constantly changing direction. But he must catch Lena And in the tropical forests of far northern today. The batteries in her tracking collar Australia the stealthy, cat-like Northern are about to lose their charge and without quoll looks down from— a a boulder toad. But onto this the radio link she may be impossible to its unsuspecting prey find again. This is Brian’s third attempt to particular toad is deadly! catch Lena, if he is not successful today, five years of crucial data gathering will The secret lives of the predators with come to an end. pouches are about to be disturbed.

Lena is one of only a thousand numbats Meet maniacs, wind-up killers, and left in the wild. She is active during sweet-faced assassins in this entertaining daylight hours; an extremely rare habit for— introduction to some of the world’s least a marsupial. Her diet is also unique. She known marsupials. eats termites, termites and more termites up to 20,000 a day.

CUTE LITTLE KILLERS THE PREDATORS WITH POUCHES 1 × 50 min. Written and directed by Ruth Berry NATURE Executive producers: Susanne Lummer, Sabine Holzer 4K, 5.1 and Stereo

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