Transcript:

Today on Animal Fact Files we’re discussing anteaters. While most people know the giant anteater, some may be surprised to learn there are actually four living anteater species: the giant anteater, the silky anteater, and two others with a different common name: the northern tamandua and the southern tamandua, though the southern tamandua is sometimes referred to as the collared anteater! The scientific name for this group of animals means “worm tongue” - not to be confused with this jerk. Anteaters are most closely related to sloths and armadillos, but they get confused with other similar looking animals which we’ll talk about later.

Anteaters live from southern North America in Mexico down into South America. We have each of their range maps here on screen so you can get an idea of where each of the four species lives. Giant anteaters are almost wholly terrestrial meaning they spend most of their time on the ground. They live in grasslands like savannahs as well as forets with covered areas for sleeping. Silky anteaters are almost wholly arboreal meaning they spend most of their time in trees - specifically silk cotton trees against which they are well camouflaged. They live in forests like rainforests. The two tamandua species are a mix between the two extremes: sometimes they find food in trees, sometimes on the ground, though they tend to live in dry forests.

Like the pangolins they may be confused with, anteaters have a long, sticky tongue. They use their tongue to gather food, namely ants, hence their common name. They’ll also eat termites, grubs, and other small invertebrates. Because these prey animals tend to sting or bite, anteaters don’t stay at a nest long. They’ll show up, eat as much as they can in about a minute, and then scurry away to raid another nest. Something to note about the anteater’s special tongue is that it can be two feet (61cm) long and it’s covered in thousands of tiny hooks which grab the insects the anteaters consume. Anteaters don't have teeth. Another animal with a long tongue and sometimes confused with anteaters is the numbat; these marsupials, however, live on the other side of the world and have more teeth than any other land animal!

The largest of the living anteaters is the aptly named giant anteater who averages 6 feet (1.8m) in length and 60 pounds (27kg) in weight. The smallest is the silky anteater which is approximately squirrel-sized reaching 2 feet (61cm) in length and less than a pound (450g) in weight. The two tamanduas are relatively the same size at 3 feet (91cm) long and 11 pounds (5kg). Males are slightly larger than females. Anteaters reach reproductive maturity at around three years old and males have multiple partners. A female gives birth to a single baby after a 120 to 190 day gestation period with larger species taking a bit longer. She must carry the baby on her back because her claws are too large for grasping the baby. Babies stay with their mothers for one to two years until they can live on their own. Anteaters lead solitary lives apart from these mother and baby interactions. Larger species can live to be older than twenty in captivity, though it’s unknown how long they live in the wild, and smaller species may not even live to be five years old.

Though they can defend themselves with their strong, sharp claws, threats to anteaters include jaguars, cougars, harpy eagles, hawks, owls and humans who may hunt them or accidentally hit them with cars. Anteaters walk on their wrists with their long claws tucked away. Apart from defense, these are used for digging up insect nests. Something fascinating about the giant anteater is that if you look at its front feet, they look like a panda’s face. And now that you’ll never be able to unsee that, we encourage you to watch the video again just to see how much you notice it!

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