Does an anteater eat ants? Yes, this remarkable animal with the long snout really lives up to its name. To reach its food, the anteater scratches a hole in an anthill with a sharp, curved claw. It darts its long tongue through the hole and inside the nest. With a flick, it jerks back its tongue, which covered with ants. The insects are swallowed whole.
An anteater does not linger at an anthill. It may stay for less than a minute. The longer it feeds, the more chance the insects have to sting. The anteater eats several kinds of insects. But ants and termites are the animal's main foods. In fact, an anteater can eat thousands of ants and termites in a single day!
An anteater's month is nothing more than a pencil-size hole at the end of its snout. The animal has no teeth, so it cannot chew insects when it eats. The ants and termites are crushed and digested in the anteater's stomach.
The anteater does not see very well. It depends on its nose to lead it to an insect nest. Its sense of smell is much better than a person's. Anteaters live in tropical forests and grasslands of Central and South America. The squirrel-size silky anteater stays mostly in trees. It gets its name from its soft , silky fur. The raccoon-size tamandua (say tuh-man-duh-wuh) divides its time between the trees and the ground. The tamandua is sometimes called a collared anteater because of the ring of light-colored fur around its neck.
At night, both the tamandua and the silky anteater look for food. They move slowly but easily through the branches, grasping them with their long tails and hooklike claws. During the day, they curl up into tight balls and sleep in tree froks.
The giant anteater measures as long as 7 feet (213 cm) including its tail. It rarely climbs trees. It spends most of its waking hours sniffing for food on the ground. It seems to shuffle along on its front knuckles. Actually, it is walking on the sides of its paws. Unlike a cat, the giant anteater cannot pull in its strong claws. To protect them and keep them sharp, it curves them under its body as it walks.
The giant anteater usually stays in its home territory. It takes to water easily, and sometimes it even swims across wide rivers in search for food. When it tires, the animal lies down and covers itself with its bushy tail. The tail serves as a blanket on cold nights and helps to hide the animal from its enemies.
Anteaters usually live alone, but females are sometimes seen with young. An anteater gives birth about once a year to a single offspring. A young anteater spends much of its time riding on its mother's back. A young giant anteater often becomes hidden in its mother's thick fur. When it is older, it occasionally will gallop alongside its mother.
A female silky anteater may leave her young hidden in a tree nest of dry leaves while she looke for food. When the young is asleep, it blends in with the branches, and enemies cannot easily see it.
Though anteaters never attack another animal first, they will defend themselves fiercely. When in danger, the giant anteater strikes out with its thick, strong claws. Sometimes it even rears up on its hind legs. A giant anteater's claws measure as long as 4 inches (10 cm). The animal is a match even for a mountain lion or a jaguar.
The tamandua uses its claws as weapons, too. When it is startled, it rises on its hind legs and spreads out its paws. If there is no real danger, it will drop back on all fours and move away. If attacked, however, the tamandua may strike with its razorsharp claws. Or it may grab its enemy in a strong grip and hold it away from its body until the attacker is stunned or dead.
Like the other anteaters, a threatened silky may riseon its hind legs to defend itself. It braces itself with its tail. Then it raises its front paws above its head and strikes down hard, slashing at its enemy. But a silky anteater's best defense is camouflage. Its gray-brown fur is hard to see against the branches in which it lives.
Anteaters are fairly common in parts of South America. Laws in Brazil protect the giant anteater. But elsewhere it is still hunted by people. It is an easy target and can be seen from far away, lumbering across the grasslands.
INFO
ANTEATER:
Length of head and body: 6-49 in (15-124 cm); tasil, 7-35 in (18-89 cm)
Weight: 6oz-86 lb (170 g-39 kg)
Habitat and Range: tropical forests and grasslands from southern Mexico through northern Argentina
Food: mostly ants and termites
Life span: 3 to 4 years in captivity, depending on species
Reproduction: usually 1 young after a pergnancy of about 5 or 6 months
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