🐾 Giant Anteater

Giant Anteater

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Scientific name: Myrmecophaga tridactyla
Family & relatives: Belongs to the order Pilosa; its closest relatives are the smaller tamanduas, the silky anteater, and (more distantly) sloths.
How to spot it: A shaggy gray animal with a bold black-and-white shoulder stripe, a long tubular snout, and a huge bushy tail like a flag.

Size: Head and body about 1 to 1.3 m, plus a tail of 65 to 90 cm.
Weight: About 22 to 40 kg (50 to 90 lb).
Body & adaptations: It has no teeth; instead it uses huge curved front claws to rip open nests and a sticky tongue up to 60 cm long.
Top speed: Usually a slow walker but can gallop up to about 48 km/h (30 mph) when threatened.
Strength: Its powerful digging claws are also formidable weapons; a cornered anteater can fatally wound a jaguar.
Senses: Poor eyesight but an extraordinary sense of smell, up to 40 times better than a human's, to locate insect nests.
Growing up: A single pup is born furred and rides on its mother's back for months, weaning by six months and maturing at about two to four years.

Habitat: Tropical grasslands, savannas, wetlands, and rainforests.
Where in the world: Central and South America, from Honduras south to northern Argentina.
Territory: Home ranges vary widely, from around 1 to 25 square km depending on food availability.

Diet: Insectivore that eats ants and termites, getting most of its water from its food and from occasional fruit.
Favorite foods: Mainly ants and termites, licked up by the thousands each day.
How it hunts: It sniffs out a nest, tears a small opening with its claws, and laps up insects fast before the soldiers can swarm, then moves on.

How it moves: Walks on the knuckles of its front feet to protect its claws, with a shuffling, bear-like gait.
When it is active: Mostly diurnal, but becomes nocturnal near human activity; rests curled under its tail.
Family life: Solitary except for mothers with young; there is no special herd name.
How it talks: Communicates through scent marking and snorts or roars, especially between mother and pup.
Babies: After a gestation of about 190 days a single young is born; the mother carries and nurses it alone with no male help.

Role in nature: Controls ant and termite populations; jaguars and pumas are its main predators.
Conservation: Listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN, threatened by habitat loss, wildfires, and roadkill.
Dangers: Common causes include road accidents, wildfires, hunting, and predation of the young.

How long it lives: Around 15 years in the wild and up to about 26 years in captivity.
In our culture: A symbol of South American wildlife and a mascot in conservation campaigns across the region.
Where to see it: Brazil's Pantanal and Cerrado, the Argentine Ibera Wetlands, and many reputable zoos worldwide.
Fun fact: Its tongue can flick in and out up to 150 times per minute to gather insects.

Video: Pixabay · Photos: Wikimedia Commons & Pixabay