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Jan 29, 2024 · Anteaters are found primarily in tropical habitats. However, they can adapt easily to different environments within their range. Some anteaters live in rainforests, while others live in drier tropical forests or savannas. Still others live in open grasslands or near large bodies of water.
Oct 19, 2016 · Anteaters can adapt to different environments. You can find this kind of animals in both tropical forests and savannas, although it is also commonly found in open grasslands, marshes and forests. Their native habitat is Central and South America. Some very small anteaters live and feed up in trees, moving from one branch to another.
- Overview
- The giant anteater
- The tamandua
- The silky anteater
- Classification
anteater, (suborder Vermilingua), any of four species of toothless, insect-eating mammals found in tropical savannas and forests from southern Mexico to Paraguay and northern Argentina. They are long-tailed animals with elongated skulls and tubular muzzles. The mouth opening of the muzzle is small, but the salivary glands are large and secrete stic...
The giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla), sometimes called the ant bear, is the largest member of the anteater family and is best known in the tropical grasslands (Llanos) of Venezuela, where it is still common. It was once found in the lowland forests of Central America and still lives in the Amazon basin southward to the grasslands of Paraguay and Argentina. Gray with a diagonal white-bordered black stripe on each shoulder, the giant anteater attains a length of about 1.8 metres (6 feet), including the long bushy tail, and weighs up to 40 kg (88 pounds). This ground dweller is mainly diurnal, but in areas near human settlement it is most active at night.
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Using its keen sense of smell to track ants, the giant anteater walks with a shuffle, bearing its weight on the sides and knuckles of its forefeet. When harried, it is capable of a clumsy gallop. The giant anteater is also a good swimmer. It does not seem to use dens or other resting places on a permanent basis but chooses instead a secluded spot where it can curl up to rest, with its huge tail covering both its head and its body. Females bear a single offspring after a gestation period of about 190 days. A young anteater looks identical, except in size, to an adult, and, from two or three weeks following birth until it is about a year old, it rides on its mother’s back as she travels. The home ranges of individual anteaters living in the Llanos overlap and can cover more than 2,500 hectares (6,000 acres). The giant anteater is the longest-lived anteater; one in captivity reportedly survived 25 years.
Unlike the giant anteater, the lesser anteater, or tamandua (genus Tamandua), is arboreal as well as terrestrial. The two tamandua species are similar in size—about 1.2 metres (4 feet) long, including the almost-hairless prehensile tail, which is used for climbing. They are often tan with a blackish “vest” around the shoulders and on the body, but some are entirely tan or entirely black. Tamanduas have shorter fur and proportionately shorter muzzles than giant anteaters.
The tamandua, meaning “catcher of ants” in the Tupí language of eastern Brazil, eats both termites and ants and often uses the same pathway day after day in search of food. Although many species of ants are eaten by tamanduas, they are selective, eating relatively few ants of any given colony and avoiding those with painful stings or bites, such as army ants (genus Eciton). Tamandua dens can be found in hollow trees and logs or in the ground, and individual home ranges cover about 75 hectares (185 acres). The northern tamandua (T. mexicana) is found from eastern Mexico to northwestern South America; the southern tamandua (T. tetradactyla) is found from the island of Trinidad southward to northern Argentina.
Also known as the two-toed, pygmy, or dwarf anteater, the silky anteater (Cyclopes didactylus) is the smallest and least-known member of the family. The silky anteater is found from southern Mexico southward to Bolivia and Brazil. It is not rare but is difficult to spot because it is nocturnal and lives high in the trees. It is also exquisitely camouflaged, its silky yellowish coat matching both the colour and the texture of fibrous seed masses produced by the silk-cotton tree (see kapok). During the day the silky anteater rests amid clumps of tropical vines (see liana).
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Silky anteaters seldom exceed 300 grams (11 ounces). The animal’s maximum overall length is about 44 cm (17 inches). About one-half of that length is the furred prehensile tail. There are two clawed toes on each forefoot. (The forefoot of the tamandua has four clawed toes, whereas that of the giant anteater has three prominent clawed toes flanked by two small toes.) The silky anteater has large eyes that allow foraging at night. The feet are equipped with heel pads that can be opposed against the claws, enabling the animal to grip small branches as it travels the forest canopy along lianas and other vines. Males live in territories of 5–10 hectares (12–25 acres) that overlap with those of several females.
The giant anteater and tamanduas constitute the family Myrmecophagidae, which means “ant-eating” in Latin, whereas the silky anteater is classified in a family of its own, Cyclopedidae. Together the two families make up the anteater suborder, Vermilingua (literally “worm-tongue” in Latin). Anteaters, along with sloths, are placed within the mammali...
Sep 23, 2023 · Habitat: Anteaters are adaptable to various habitats within their range, but they are typically associated with the following ecosystems: Tropical Rainforests: Anteaters are often found in lush, tropical rainforests where ants and termites, their primary food sources, are abundant.
- Information
- Myrmecophagidae
Anteater habitats include dry tropical forests, rainforests, grasslands, and savannas. The silky anteater is specialized to an arboreal environment, but the more opportunistic tamanduas find their food both on the ground and in trees, typically in dry forests near streams and lakes.
Habitat and Distribution. Anteaters inhabit a variety of environments, including rainforests, grasslands, and deciduous forests across Central and South America.
The anteaters live mainly in kapok (KAY-pock) trees, where pods (dry seed vessels) are fluffy and gold and silver. The anteaters resemble the pods in appearance, helping the animals to hide from predators.
