Janechek 1

Katie Janechek

Kim Eijpen

Zoology

22 April, 2022

Anteaters

The giant anteater received its name from Carl Linnaeus in 1758. Its generic name,

Myrmecophaga, and specific name, Tridactyla, are both Greek, meaning "anteater" and "three

fingers". Myrmecophaga Jubata was used as a synonym. Anteater is the name for the only four

extant mammal species of the suborder Vermilingua (also known as worm-tongue). They come

from the mammalia class, the xenarthra order, and the myrmecophagidae family, and are a part of

the myrmecophaga tridactyla genus. They have been around for around 25 million year now,

evolving from an animal that aardvarks and pangolins did, using the term convergent evolution.

Anteaters and sloths diverged around 55 million years ago, between the Paleocene and Eocene

epochs.

Anteaters don't walk on the soles of their front feet, they flex the digits upward and turn the

forefeet inward. This makes it so that the foreclaws do not come in contact with the ground. Their

front claws can get to a length of about 4 inches. Giant anteaters sniff out their prey (since their

eyesight is poor) and use their front limbs and large claws to dig into termite and ant mounds.

Then they use their long, sticky tongue to eat up their food. Free living anteaters get tick

infestations often (one was found with over 100 ticks at one time). Anteaters have gray hair that

feels like straw and grows very long particularly on the tail (up to 16 inches ). It also has a distinct

stripe of black that goes from under the nose and stretches to the middle of the back. They have a

very bad immune system, and Pangolins lack two genes that act to alert the body when a virus

enters, triggering an immune response in most mammals. Because of this, the Pangolins are able

to carry the corona virus and not be affected by it for what is possible an unknown reason. The

age that they reach sexual maturity ranges from 2 to 3 years, and their incubation lasts around 180
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to 190 days. They only have one offspring per birth. Giant anteaters can mate throughout the year.

During this time, a male consorts with a female, following and sniffing her. Male and female pairs

are also known to feed at the same insect nest, so - to my amusement - it is similar to dating.

When the baby (called a pup) is born, it has all its hair that it will have in adulthood, and in its

juvenile state, it is almost identical to its matured counterpart.

Anteaters, being specialized predators of insects, eat mostly insects which helps control that

population. They don't possess teeth, only an approximately two foot long tongue. They are able

to eat up to a whopping 30,000 insects in a day. Giant anteaters tend to eat larger insects, while

Tamanduas and Silky Anteaters eat smaller insects. These dietary differences mean that multiple

anteater species can coexist in the same region without being in direct competition. Since they

don't have teeth, they can't chew the insects. Instead, they swallow them whole. While they're

eating, they also swallow small stones and pebbles and other debris. These items help them digest

the insects by grinding them in the stomach.

Even though anteaters have poor vision, their hearing and sense of smell is excellent. Their sense

of smell is 40 times better than humans for reference. While the lifespan of wild anteaters is

around 14 years, they live for about 26 years in captivity. If threatened, the usually noiseless giant

anteater will make a bellowing noise and rear up on their hind quarters, swiping with their

foreclaws. The foreclaws reach lengths of around 4 inches. At a time span of a bit more than a

healthy human, anteaters sleep around 15 hours a day. They have relatively low metabolic rates;

as an example, the giant anteater has the lowest recorded body temperature of any placental

mammal, at 90.9°F.

Giant anteaters are found throughout Central and South America except for Guatemala, Uruguay

and El Salvador; they are considered to be extinct in these areas currently. They live in wetlands,

grasslands and tropical forests, where many insects would be abundant. The giant anteaters are

becoming rare due to exotic pet trade and habitat destruction like most endangered species.

Unfortunately, they have almost disappeared from their original and historic habitat in Central
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America, and are found in South America. They are hunted for their meat, and sometimes as

trophies. Some are also killed because they are mistakenly blamed for killing cattle and dogs.

Anteaters are imperative in maintaining insect populations as that is their only source of food.

This species is listed as Vulnerable in the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature)

Red List of Threatened Species. Although the endangered quality is widespread geographically,

there have been records of local extinctions, mainly in Central America. There it is considered the

most threatened mammal.

There are many adaption strategies that the anteater has, such as - very noticeable - its nose, used

for locating ant hills and other insects. Because its nose is so long, it can be held about water as

the animal swims. The tongue is another adaptation, similar to the nose. It is around two feet long

and is used to eat its food. It is covered in barbs, and with the help of lots of saliva, it is easier to

collect as many ants at a time. The tongue can be shot out and retracted at a rate of 150 times per

minute. The anteater’s stomach, containing powerful muscles and strong acid from the insects

that they consume as well as the pebbles they eat, make it so that the animal doesn't need teeth to

grind up and digest its food. Sharp, long claws extend from the three middle toes on each of the

anteater’s feet and are used for digging up termite hills and digging in general, as well as

climbing trees. They can also use them to fight off predators such as big cats (pumas and jaguars

are the most common, although they are a close match at times). They walk oddly to prevent their

claws from grinding away. The last adaptation that anteaters possess is their tail, used mainly for

balance when it rears up. These tails are strong, and can sometimes measure up to three feet in

length, depending on species. The tail can be used as an additional limb to help support the

anteater when standing on its two back legs or climbing trees; part of the tail has no hair, allowing

the anteater to achieve a better grip on branches. Due to it being so bushy, they use it as shade,

and during the opposite temperatures, like when temperatures drop, anteaters gain extra insulation

by bending their hairy tails around to cover their furry bodies.

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Just as a fun fact, there was a person who was killed by an anteater. It was the outcome of a

defensive attack by a giant anteater; the attack occurred while the victim was hunting and because

he was using dogs to aid him. The dogs cornered the adult anteater, which assumed an upright,

threatening position and it can be assumed that it slashed the victim with its claws.
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Links:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25041215/

https://seaworld.org/animals/facts/mammals/giant-anteater/#:~:text=Giant%20anteaters%2C%20s

ave%20for%20mother,for%20up%20to%20a%20year.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/immunology-and-microbiology/anteater

https://sciencing.com/five-physical-adaptations-anteaters-10023782.html

https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/giant-anteater
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