Numbats are built to hold heat, making climate change extra risky for the marsupials

Numbats are curious creatures. The only marsupials that are active solely during the day, when they scratch at soil and rotting logs for termites, these squirrel-sized animals are built to hoard body heat. But that same energy-saving trait may put the already endangered animals at risk as the climate warms, a new study suggests.

Already, even brief sun exposure on days over 23° Celsius (73° Fahrenheit) can severely limit the time the Australian marsupials can spend foraging, researchers report January 11 in the Journal of Experimental Biology. Numbats might rapidly overheat in the sun, even at relatively reasonable temperatures, the team finds.

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