Each Numbat can be recognised by its individual pattern of bands. Under their body, Numbat's have off-white hair and their tails are covered with long brown hairs, some with white tips. The underside of the tail near the body is brick-red. Adult Numbats have a head and body length of 20 to 25cm and a tail length of 15 to 18cm. Females weigh about 500g while males are usually heavier weighing around 700g.
Numbats have a small flat head with a long nose, pointed ears and a very long tongue.
They also have 50 to 52 small teeth. Numbats disappeared from New South Wales soon after 1900 but were in north-west South Australia until about the 1950s. In Western Australia Numbats were still widespread in the 1950s but disappeared from the arid zone between the 1950s and 1970s. Numbats decreased to about seven small populations in the 1970s, and by 1986 only two populations were left. Since then, Numbats have begun to make a comeback as a direct result of recovery actions.