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- The 2-foot-long tongue is attached to the sternum and can flick in and out up to 150 times per minute.
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A giant anteater's tongue is 2 feet long and can flick in and out of its mouth 150 times per minute. It's coated in sticky saliva, which allows anteaters to slurp up ants and termites. Research has found that giant anteaters can identify a particular species of ant or termite by smell before they rip apart a nest.
But their long tongues are more than sufficient to lap up the 35,000 ants and termites they swallow whole each day. As the largest of all four anteater species, the giant anteater can reach eight...
The head of the giant anteater, at 30 cm (12 in) long, is particularly elongated, even when compared to other anteaters. Its cylindrical snout takes up most of its head. Its eyes, ears and mouth are relatively small. It has poor eyesight, but has a powerful sense of smell; 40 times that of a human.
- Anteaters Are of the Same Order, Xenarthra, as Armadillos. "This order also includes sloths and armadillos," says Melissa Ciccariello, zookeeper in charge of anteaters for Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island, via an email interview.
- They Don't Have the Longest Tongue of Any Animal. While the giant anteater's tongue is about 20 to 24 inches (51 to 61 centimeters) long, the blue whale has the largest tongue of any animal alive today, according to Schwartz.
- Anteaters Slip Their "Spaghetti-like" Tongue Into Ant Hills and Termite Mounds to Eat. "They use their claws to break open ant and termite mounds," says Ciccariello.
- An Anteater Will Eat up to 30,000 Ants or Termites a Day. "While anteaters will eat primarily ants and termites, it's not uncommon for them to enjoy fallen fruit," says Schwartz.
Learn about the amazing adaptations of anteaters and how they use their tongues to catch insects in this fascinating article.
The Giant anteater is one of the two mammal species, not having any teeth, even in adult individuals. Compared to other mammals with similar body size, this anteater possesses the longest tongue, protruding out of its mouth for more than 60 cms (2 ft). The tail of the Giant anteater greatly helps the animal.
The snout is long (up to 45 cm in length) and the skull is streamlined with small eyes and ears. The tail is large and bushy and is nearly as long as the body. Head and body length measures 1,000 to 1,200 mm and tail length 650 to 900 mm. Weight ranges from 18 to 39 kg.
