Nature has created many amazing animals, but the one that will be discussed in the article is in the forefront of this list. The giant three-fingered anteater, whose photo is in front of you, is listed in the IUCN Red List.
This is a large animal with a narrow, like a tube, muzzle, long tongue and a luxurious thick fur coat. His lifestyle in the natural environment is as amazing as his appearance.
Giant anteater: photo, description
As mentioned earlier, the appearance of the three-fingered representative of the fauna is very unusual. The giant anteater is South America's largest predator. The length of his body reaches 1.30 m with a weight of 40 kg. A meter-long fluffy tail is added to the length. The limbs do not allow the predator to move quickly, but they are armed with powerful claws (1-7 cm).
The size of the head is small, but the muzzle is extremely elongated (25-30% of the body length) and narrow. The beast practically cannot open its mouth due to the fact that the jaws have grown together. At the end of the snout, the nostrils and tiny mouth are located. The anteater has no teeth. The tongue is 55-60 cm long and has powerful muscles.
The coat of a handsome three-fingered man is thick, stiff and unusually elastic. The muzzle is almost without hairline, in the direction of the body it becomes longer and longer, turning into a voluminous mane located along the ridge. There are the same magnificent frills on the legs.
The tail is the pride of the anteater! It is covered with long wool (60 cm). This beauty hangs to the ground. With such a tail, the animal can easily hide, like a warm blanket.
Most often, the coat color of the giant anteater is silver, with a gray tint, sometimes the color of cocoa is found. Through the whole body diagonally, from the chest to the sacrum, there is a wide black stripe. The lower part of the tail, underbelly and head has a black-brown color.
Habitat
The giant anteater is from South America. For the last millions of years, representatives of this species live in sparse forests and shrubbery. The "home" of these animals is considered to be the territory from the Gran Chaco in Argentina to Costa Rica in Central America.
Wildlife Lifestyle
The animal anteater is quite peaceful, the main thing is not to anger or threaten it. For days on end, he only goes about walking in search of anthills and termite mounds to feast on insects. Other predators try to get around this clumsy goosebump lover. He does not run away from danger, but turns to the enemy, stands on his hind legs and puts it in a "mortal embrace", launching his sharp huge claws into his body. The first anteater never attacks.
You cannot name anteaters as homebodies, and they don’t have a home either. Throughout their lives, they wander, moving from place to place, and do not equip their lair. They prefer to live in open and semi-open areas.
A large anteater is a terrestrial animal, climbing trees is not in its habits and capabilities. In the daytime, these predators love to sleep, relax in a secluded place, and are active at night. The anteater cannot walk fast, much less run - the claws interfere with it. To at least somehow move, the beast bends them.
What does the anteater eat?
The giant anteater mainly feeds on ants, this is immediately clear from the name of the animal. The menu of an amazing predator includes caterpillars, termites, millipedes, wood lice, insect larvae. If you couldn’t get your favorite food, the animal will enjoy berries.
It’s very funny to watch the anteater eating around the ant heap. First, with his claws, he makes a hole in the insect house. Then it sticks into it a thin, long, sticky tongue. The beast penetrates them into all the nooks and crannies of the anthill, where hundreds of insects adhere to the tongue.
Interestingly, in captivity these animals easily adapt to more diverse foods. They eat fruit, meat, boiled eggs and even milk with appetite. Only before feeding can it be necessary to grind the food, and grind the meat into minced meat, because the anteater has a very small mouth. Large pieces, he simply will not push into it.
Mating season
The giant anteater refers to the animals that roam individually. Couples, of course, are found, but not a male with a female, but a mother who is raising her cub. Only when the mating season begins, which occurs annually in spring and autumn, do anteaters meet to conceive offspring.
Having fulfilled his duty, having fertilized the female, the male proudly leaves, returning to his lonely life of the eternal wanderer. The female will have to bear the cub for about six months, and then take care of it herself.
Offspring Care
Anteaters breed very slowly, because in one litter there is only one small cub. It is born covered with wool, the weight of the newborn cub is about 1.4–1.8 kg. The maternal instinct of the female is extremely strong: she devotes her entire life to offspring. Not having time to raise one cub, the female is already caring for another.
When the baby anteater is born, it almost immediately settles on the mother’s back. From this moment, the cub travels with her in this way. When you look at this small family, you don’t even notice that a cub has settled on the back of the female, so its fur merges with the hair of the mother.
At the age of one month, a small fluffy predator is able to move independently. On his mother’s back, he no longer rides, but literally follows her on the heels. This continues until the young anteater is two years old. Only at this age does the animal become independent and can dispense with the care of its mother.
Giant Anteater: Interesting Facts
Specialists studying the world of anteaters, managed to find out many interesting facts about these animals:
• Predator tongue works with unique speed. For a minute, a giant anteater ejects and draws it in about 150-160 times.
• The length of the tongue is about 60 cm, which has no analogues among the land inhabitants.
• During the day, the anteater is able to eat about 30,000 insects.
• The muscles that control the tongue attach to the sternum.
• The anteater’s teeth are in his stomach, which is extremely muscular. On its walls is a solid keratinized lining.
• Insects enter the animal’s stomach alive, and keratinized thorns in the sky and folds on the cheeks prevent them from getting out.
Anteater and man
Aboriginals of South America at all times hunted giant anteaters for meat. But the number of these animals was inexorably declining, not only for this reason. The fact is that they depend on the specific sources of their usual food. Natural habitats were destroyed, and as a result of such human activities, the appearance of these amazing predators was on the verge of extinction.
Meeting the giant anteater in the wild is becoming increasingly difficult. It is sad to state the fact that their numbers in zoos are also insignificant, despite the fact that in captivity these predators perfectly take root. Only by creating favorable conditions for the survival of anteaters, will people be able to help ensure that such unusual creatures of nature restore their numbers again, and they will not be threatened with extinction.