Close-up of a giant anteater
Anteaters are unusual creatures that are very special in their tongue, mouth, and stomach. Considering the consumption of insects, the anteaters have a tubular mouth without teeth and an extremely slender head with the most delicate tongue in the animal world.
The tongue actually curls up at the back of the anteater's skull and attaches to the sternum. When fully extended, the anteaters' tongues are almost twice the length of their entire head.
The tongue is thin, sometimes bright red, covered with hundreds of small hooks. These hooks, along with large amounts of viscous saliva, can catch tiny insects and send them directly into the throat without having to chew.
Once inside the stomach, hundreds of ants, termites, and other insects are crushed by a powerful and constantly churning sand sac. Like birds, anteaters deliberately ingest fine gravel and small pebbles that line up on sand sacs and help destroy food.
Most closely related to sloths are armadillos, which are rather primitive animals whose lifestyles are simple and mostly lonely.
Although almost all of them survive on insects, each species has a different way of getting food.
Native to Central and South America, this rare filamentous anteate is an arboreal animal that spends its entire life in mid-range forest lines and rarely walks on the ground.
Medium-sized anteaters from South America, or collared anteaters, are free to move from trees to the forest floor.
Native to Central and South America, this huge and fascinating giant anteater is a terrestrial animal that spends only time on the ground, foraging in termite mounds and anthills.
Giant anteaters
Giant anteaters forage
The giant anteaters are the largest insectivores on Earth, and the males reach an impressive 120 pounds when they mature.
Supporting such a mass in ant-sized increments is a daunting task. This giant anteater is day and night active, hot during the day, sleeping at night, and spending most of its time searching for ant mounds and termite mounds with its impressive sense of smell.
When an anteater finds a mound, it moves quickly, tearing the wall straight through with its huge and powerful claws.
Fast movement is key because although the anteateur is covered with thick, mop-like fur, it is not immune to the bites and bites of ants and termites.
The giant anteaters feed at the fastest speed, and its amazing tongue moves in and out 150 times per minute – more than twice a second! Then it went to the next mound.
Scientists speculate that the anteaters are a very efficient hunter, and if it is not bothered by stings, it will eventually wipe out the entire mound.
In fact, with just a few minutes of attack, the insect swarm can rebuild and continue to provide a three-minute feast for the next anteaters.
Anteaters breed
Giant anteater mother and baby
All anteaters species are solitary. Giant anteaters, in particular, spend their time strictly within their own territories, marking them with gland secretions and paw prints
If individuals meet, they are usually calm, but they are rarely social.
Once a year during the mating season, they gather in pairs and stay together for a few days. Males sometimes stay longer, but in general, puppies are only raised by their mothers.
Because of her unique structure, the mother anteater cannot put her baby in her mouth or hold it in her arms, so when it's time to push it away, his little anteater will instinctively crawl onto her mother and be carried back to the first part of its life by her mother.
The mother would lie down, scoop the baby under her, breastfeed for up to an hour at a time, and get all the nutrients from breast milk for the first four weeks.
At about a month old, babies will begin to explore on their own and walk short distances, but in most cases, mothers will carry their babies for about a year, which can create a considerable burden.
The anteaters are quiet and simple. Babies may make some screaming and contented sounds while breastfeeding, but communication is silent in other situations.
Young anteaters may linger around their mothers for about three years before expanding on their own—after all, it's hard to leave such a tireless mother.
Incredible anteaters
There are four species of anteaters, all of which inhabit Central or South America.
The most well-known species is the giant anteaters. It is large, does not live in trees, lives in areas drier than other species, and is the only anteater without a tail.
Anteaters with collars, also known as tamanduas or smaller anteaters, spend about 60% of their time in trees. They live in more water-rich and greener environments and can also be found in rainforests. There are two species of collar ant-eaters, the northern one, also known as the vest, and the southern one, which are very similar in appearance.
They will tear apart ants and termite mounds on the ground, but will also spot a wide variety of insects in the trees and stick their tongues into the crevices of the trunks to extract food.
Tamanduas are best known for their tendency to threaten displays, lifting and chests up on their hind legs.
The rarest and unusual anteaters are silky anteaters, also known as dwarfs or dwarf anteaters. It belongs to a different genus from the other three species and has a very different appearance.
The silky anteaters are covered in cream-colored wool fur. Silky is almost entirely arboreal and rarely leaves the trees. It is nocturnal and therefore infrequent. It was very shy and almost completely silent.
Silky anteaters have much shorter faces and tongues, and eat slightly different foods from grubs and worms, and of course, ants.
It doesn't let the trees tear open the termite mounds. It is believed that the territory of this silky anteater is small, with only a few trees, and is not as active as other anteater species.
It has a very long and powerful tail that can be used to hang upside down from its high limbs while eating insects on lower branches. Silkys are also the smallest anteater species, only 10 inches long and 1 pound heavy.
Anteater personality
This usually passive and kind anteater looks almost cute with its thick fur, but it will show quite intense performance when it is imminent.
Smaller anteaters can prey for jaguars, cougars, pythons, pythons, eagles and wolves, so they must remain vigilant.
When predators approach, anteaters will behave noisily, using their strong tails as tripods, standing high on their hind legs and arching their backs. They would open their arms and show their big paws, trying to look as big as possible.
If the bluff fails, they will try to catch the attacker in a bear-hugging manner. They have no teeth and are not suitable for combat, but their forelimbs are strong and designed for hours of painstaking digging, and if they can catch an enemy with their claws, they may block an attack.
In rare cases, giant anteaters have reportedly killed animals as large as jaguars in self-defense. Bluffing works well and is often used, especially in Tamanduya species. They are likely to be displayed in such a way that even captive individuals in zoos regularly incite their tamers, just to leave them alone.
other
- Giant anteaters can eat 30,000 insects a day
- The hair of the giant anteater is 18 inches long
- The anteaters walk with their fists to keep their claws sharp as they dig
- Silky or pygmy anteaters weigh only about a pound, while giant anteaters can weigh up to 120 pounds and 7 feet long.
- Silky anteaters are the smallest, but probably the loudest, emitting very harsh screams when threatened
- Anteaters have no teeth
- A giant anteaters have a tongue that is more than two feet long — or 1.5 to 2 times the length of its head
- Baby anteaters walk on their mother's back for about a year before they walk on their own