Where does the anteater live? On what continent? Large, or giant anteater - crazy zoologist
Nature has created many amazing animals, but the one that will be discussed in the article is at the forefront of this list. The giant three-toed anteater, whose photo is in front of you, is listed in the IUCN Red List.
This is a large animal with a muzzle narrow as a tube, a long tongue and a luxurious thick fur coat. His lifestyle in natural environment as amazing as the looks.
Giant anteater: photo, description
As mentioned earlier, the appearance of a three-toed representative of the fauna is very unusual. Giant anteater - largest predator South America. Its body length reaches 1.30 m and weighs 40 kg. A meter 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 head is small, but the muzzle is extremely elongated (25-30% of 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 muzzle-pipe are nostrils and a tiny mouth. The anteater has no teeth. The tongue is 55-60 cm long and has powerful muscles.
The wool of the three-toed handsome man is thick, hard and unusually resilient. The muzzle is practically without hairline, towards the body it becomes longer and longer, turning into a voluminous mane located along the ridge. There are the same lush frills on the paws.
The tail is the pride of the anteater! It is covered with long hair (60 cm). This beauty hangs down to the ground. With such a tail, the animal can easily take cover, like a warm blanket.
Most often, the coat color of the giant anteater is silver, with a gray tint, sometimes cocoa color is found. A wide black stripe runs diagonally across the entire body, from the chest to the sacrum. The lower part of the tail, underbelly and head has a black-brown color.
Habitat
The giant anteater is native to South America. For the last million years, representatives of this species live in sparse forests and shrub savannah. The "home" of these animals is the territory from the Gran Chaco in Argentina to Costa Rica in Central America.
Lifestyle in the wild
The animal anteater is quite peaceful, the main thing is not to anger or threaten him. All day long he only does what he walks in search of anthills and termite mounds in order to feast on insects. Other predators try to bypass this clumsy lover of goosebumps. He does not run away from danger, but turns to the enemy, stands on his hind legs and puts him in a "deadly embrace", launching his sharp huge claws into his body. The first anteater never attacks.
You can’t call anteaters homebodies, and they don’t have a home either. Throughout their lives, they roam, moving from place to place, and do not equip their lair. They prefer to live in open and semi-open areas.
large anteater- a land animal, climbing trees is not in its habits and capabilities. IN daytime these predators like to sleep, relax in a secluded place, and are active at night. The anteater cannot walk quickly, and even more so, run - claws interfere with it. In order to somehow move, the beast bends them.
What does an 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, centipedes, wood lice, insect larvae. If the favorite food could not be obtained, the animal will gladly eat berries.
Watching an anteater eat near an ant pile is very funny. First, he makes a hole in the insect house with his claws. Then he sticks a thin long sticky tongue into it. The beast penetrates them into all the nooks and crannies of the anthill, where hundreds of insects stick to the tongue.
Interestingly, in captivity, these animals easily adapt to a more varied diet. They eagerly eat fruit, meat, boiled eggs and even milk. Only before feeding, the food must be crushed, and the meat must be ground into minced meat, because the anteater has a very small mouth. He simply will not push large pieces into it.
mating season
The giant anteater is one of the animals that roam alone. Pairs, of course, meet, but not a male with a female, but a mother who raises her cub. Only when it comes mating season, which occurs annually in spring and autumn, anteaters meet to conceive offspring.
Having fulfilled his duty, having fertilized the female, the male proudly departs, returning to his lonely life as an eternal wanderer. The female will have to bear the cub for about six months, and then take care of him herself.
Caring for offspring
Anteaters breed very slowly, because in one litter there is only one little cub. He is born covered with wool, the weight of a newborn cub is about 1.4-1.8 kg. The maternal instinct of the female is extremely strong: she devotes her whole life to offspring. Not having time to raise one cub, the female is already caring for another.
When the baby anteater is born, he almost immediately settles on his mother's back. From that moment on, the cub travels with her in this way. When you look at this small family, you don’t even immediately notice that a cub has settled on the back of the female, so his fur merges with that of his mother.
At the age of one month, a small fluffy predator is able to move independently. He no longer rides on his mother's back, but follows her in literally on the heels. This continues until the young anteater is two years old. Only at this age the animal becomes independent and can do without the guardianship of the mother.
Giant anteater: interesting facts
Specialists studying the world of anteaters managed to learn many interesting facts about these animals:
The tongue of a predator works with unique speed. In a minute giant anteater ejects and retracts it about 150-160 times.
. The length of the tongue is about 60 cm, which has no analogues among terrestrial inhabitants.
. During the day, the anteater is able to eat about 30,000 insects.
. The muscles that control the tongue are attached to the sternum.
. The anteater's teeth are in its stomach, which is extremely muscular. On its walls there is a hard keratinized lining.
. Insects enter the stomach of the animal alive, and keratinized spikes in the sky and folds on the cheeks prevent them from getting out.
Anteater and man
The natives of South America at all times hunted giant anteaters for meat. But the number of these animals was inexorably reduced not only for this reason. The fact is that they depend on specific sources of their habitual food. Their natural habitats were destroyed, and as a result of such human activity, the species of these amazing predators was on the verge of extinction.
Encounter a giant anteater in wild nature becomes more and more difficult. It is sad to state the fact that in zoos their numbers are also insignificant, despite the fact that in captivity these predators take root perfectly. Only by creating favorable conditions for the survival of anteaters, people will be able to help ensure that such unusual creatures of nature will again restore their numbers, and they will not be threatened with extinction.
One of the most amazing and well known to all lovers of animal flora is the anteater. This amazing mammal belongs to the order of edentulous. Nowadays, anteaters are often raised as exotic pets, and the first owner of such an animal was the great artist of world renown - Salvador Dali.
Description and characteristics
The anteater family includes two genera, three species and eleven subspecies. which differ in many respects. However, there are also common features that are characteristic of all species, including a very long tongue up to 60 cm long, a characteristic set of legs and a very strong tail, which helps the animal climb trees.
The size of an adult animal may vary. Under natural conditions, males are larger than females. All anteaters have long, tube-like snouts, and have a small and narrow mouth opening. Also characteristic is the small size of the ears and eyes. On the front five-fingered limbs there are long and sharp, hooked claws. The hind feet have four or five toes with not too long claws. The entire body is covered with thick hair, which, depending on the species, can be short and soft or long and coarse.
This is interesting! Distinctive feature anteater - a very long tongue, wetted with sticky and abundant saliva.
Hair coloring is quite contrasting. The color of the back varies from a gray shade to a relatively bright, golden brown color. The abdomen is most often colored yellowish or grayish-white. Four-toed anteaters have blackish stripes or a fairly large black spot on the body. The cranial bones are strong, elongated. Anteaters do not have teeth, and the thin lower jaw is long enough, not powerful.
natural habitat
Anteaters are widespread in Mexico, as well as in Central America, in Brazil and Paraguay. Typically, the environment natural habitat animal serve tropical forest zones, but some species are quite well adapted to open areas, savannas and coastlines.
Anteater species differ in lifestyle, which is reflected in their physiological characteristics:
- ground giant anteaters
- tree pygmy anteaters
- ground-arboreal four-toed anteaters
The animal is activated, as a rule, at night or immediately after dusk. IN natural conditions Ants and termites serve as the basis of nutrition for the anteater, the nests of which are destroyed with the help of very powerful forepaws. Insects that have left their devastated dwelling are collected by means of a sticky tongue and are eaten with lightning speed. Somewhat less often, bees and larvae of various beetles are used as food by anteaters. To enhance the processes of digestion, anteaters are able to periodically swallow coarse sand, as well as fairly small pebbles. Not too well developed organs of vision and hearing are well compensated by an excellent sense of smell, which allows finding food.
Anteater species
All kinds of mammals such as the anteater inhabiting moist forests, as well as water or swamp zones and savannas in Central and South America, are represented by terrestrial and tree varieties.
Terrestrial giant or large anteaters are the most major representatives belonging to the order of the edentulous. Average body length adult can vary from one to almost one and a half meters. The length from the tip of the tail to the muzzle is almost three meters.
This is interesting! The body weight of an adult reaches 38-40 kg. The animal has a long and narrow muzzle resembling a tube, small and narrow eyes, and a tongue abundantly moistened with sticky saliva, the length of which is 0.6 meters.
Such a large and massive animal is not able to climb trees and leads exclusively terrestrial, mainly night image life. The period of wakefulness takes, as a rule, only eight hours a day. When walking, the giant anteater characteristically bends its claws and rests on the ground with the back of its forelimbs. For protection from enemies, the front clawed paw is used, with the blow of which the animal is able to inflict severe injuries on its opponent.
This is the smallest representative of this family. The total body length rarely exceeds 0.4 m with a weight of no more than 350-400 grams.The coloring of the anteater's coat is brownish, with an attractive golden hue. The soles of the paws and the tip of the nose are red. The muzzle of the pygmy anteater ends in a proboscis-shaped, which makes it convenient to eat insects. Complete absence teeth is compensated by a long and very sticky tongue.
A characteristic feature of this genus is the presence of a very flexible and tenacious tail. It is the tail and front paws, which have elongated claws, that help the animal to easily and quickly move through the trees, so the genus of pygmy anteaters belongs to the category of trees.
This is interesting! A distinctive feature is a predominantly nocturnal lifestyle and habitat in tropical, multi-level forest zones. Dwarf anteaters are solitary animals, therefore they never stray into flocks.
The species is represented by a Mexican variety and a true four-toed anteater. The body of these animals is relatively average in size. The body length of a four-toed anteater does not exceed 55-90 centimeters, while the tail length can vary between 40-50 cm. The weight of an adult animal is approximately 4.5 kg. The average body length of the Mexican tamandua reaches 75 cm, with a tail length of 40-70 cm.
The muzzle is elongated, with a curve. The eyes are small.
This is interesting! A characteristic feature is the weakness of vision, which is compensated by excellent hearing.
The mouth part is small, and its diameter is sufficient for the passage of a long and sticky tongue. The tail is long and tenacious, without hair at the bottom and at the end. On the forelimbs there are four fingers with claws. There are five clawed fingers on the hind limbs. Mexican tamanduas are distinguished by a strong odor emitted by the anal gland.
Reproduction in nature
Mating occurs once or twice a year spring period or spring and autumn. The duration of pregnancy in different species varies from three months up to six months, after which a rather small and naked cub is born, independently climbing onto the back of its mother. Males are also directly involved in the upbringing of the younger generation and, alternately with females, carry the baby on their backs.
The anteater cub spends a significant part of the time with his mother and father, and only from the age of one month gradually begins to a short time leave their back to descend to the ground. Anteater babies use a special mass of semi-digested insects for their food, which are burped alternately by the male and female.
Natural enemies of the anteater
If large-sized, giant anteaters, in their natural habitat, are hunted exclusively by adult jaguars, then dwarf species of a tropical animal are forced to beware of even large boas and birds of prey including eagles. For self-defense, long claws are used, which they use, quickly turning over on their backs.
When danger is detected, pygmy anteaters stand on their hind limbs, in a characteristic protective stance, and hold their forelimbs with long claws in front of the muzzle. In the tamandua species, there is also an additional protection in the form of an unpleasant odor, due to which local residents the animal was nicknamed "forest stink".
Anteaters can nest in hollows in trees or in burrows dug out by other tropical animals. Most often, the anteater is a solitary animal, but there are also real couples who live together for many years.
Anteaters are completely devoid of teeth, but this does not prevent them from eating thirty thousand ants or termites in one day. The tropical animal is an excellent swimmer and can easily overcome water surface even very large reservoirs and rivers.
Even wild felines, including the jaguar, do not risk attacking too large individuals of a giant or large anteater, and thanks to powerful and clawed paws, the animal is able to kill a relatively large predator with one blow.
Under natural conditions, anteaters are quite peaceful and do not show aggression towards other animals, and the average life expectancy is about a quarter of a century.
Anteaters are not kept at home too often, due to the rather high cost of the exotic and the need to provide him with the most comfortable conditions for his stay. Tropical animal requires strict adherence temperature regime indoors at 24-26 o C.
The nature of the domestic anteater
This is interesting! A specific problem with content is short duration life, rarely exceeding five years.
Among other things, long claws on the forelimbs require periodic grinding, so anteaters often ruin furniture and interior items in the room.
The diet of a domestic anteater
Domesticated animals need to be provided with quality nutrition that can fully replace natural food. A worthy replacement for insects can be minced meat, well-boiled rice, chicken or quail eggs as well as fruits.
Where to buy an anteater
IN last years anteaters have made quite worthy competition for many domesticated wild animals, including snakes, ferrets, foxes, raccoons and iguanas. You need to purchase exotics in a specialized nursery, where the health status of pets is monitored. The average price of a young domestic anteater is 5-6 thousand $. Animals bred in captivity give offspring only in the first generation, and then, the resulting cubs are kind of sterile, therefore unable to bear offspring.
Detachment edentulous-Ordo Edentata
Anteater family- Familia Myrmecophagidae
Genus giant anteaters- genus myrmecophaga
- Myrmecophaga tridactyla Linnaeus, 1758 (VI, 179)
Why is it listed in the Red Book
The giant anteater may soon be endangered, the number of the species is declining. At present, Argentina has disappeared wherever there are human settlements.
In the north of the country they are rare; in Brazil are rare in the Amazon, national park Canastra in the east of the country are common; still common in a number of places in Paraguay (1970), rare in Peru, disappeared from many places; apparently no longer found in Guatemala, although there is a report of their presence on the Pacific coast between San José and the border with El Salvador; rare in Guiana (Fr.) and Costa Rica;
In Bolivia, they are endangered. In Colombia, according to 1970 data, they disappeared from a number of places; along the Caribbean coast they are endangered; elsewhere it may soon become endangered. It is not known if the giant anteater ever lived in Uruguay, but in 1971 it was not found in this country.
No data are available for Guatemala, and by 1950 it apparently disappeared, and if it survived, then probably only in the territory between San José and the border with El Salvador. Disappeared in El Salvador. By 1978, it was endangered in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama.
The decrease in the number of anteaters is associated with hunting and changes in the habitat of animals by humans. In Guyana (Fr.) and Brazil are protected by law.
Where does it live
Distributed from Guatemala, Venezuela and Guyana to Peru, Northern Argentina and Southern Brazil. Range of M. t. tridactyla stretches from Venezuela and Guyana to Peru, Paraguay, southern Brazil and northern Argentina. M. t. artata is found in Colombia and western Venezuela.
To the north, it is replaced by M. t. centralis, which runs from Belize south along Caribbean coast to Colombia and along the Pacific coast to Guatemala. In Peru, the range is confined to the Amazon region.
How to find out
The largest sizes in the family. Body length 100-120 cm. Tail length 60-90 cm. Weight 18-25 kg. The body is laterally compressed. The head is strongly elongated in the facial region, which has a tubular shape.
On the forelimbs, the second and third fingers are very large with powerful claws, the fifth finger is absent. The hairline is high (low on the head), thick, but coarse.
Long hairs (up to 40 cm long) form high crests on the ventral and dorsal sides of the tail. A comb of elongated hair also runs along the middle of the back.
The coloration is gray, and the diagonal stripe that runs along the body from the chest to the sacrum is black with a white border.
Hind limbs, tail and belly are blackish. There are two nipples in the chest area. The tongue can be extended up to 61 cm; its diameter at its thickest point is 10-15 mm.
Lifestyle and biology
They inhabit swampy areas, wet forests and savannahs. Ground dwellers. Stay single. They are active mainly at night, but can be found during the day.
They feed on ants and termites, which they catch with their tongues. Pregnancy 190 days. There is 1 cub in the litter. Life expectancy in captivity is 14 years.
In the detachment edentulous three families: the anteater Myrmecophagidae, the sloth Bradypodidae, and the armadillo Dasypodidae. Some representatives of these families are included in IUCN Red List d Convention on international trade. In the family anteaters three kinds. One of them: the giant anteater Myrmecophaga is included in the IUCN Red List and the Convention on International Trade, and the Tamandua genus Tamandua is only in the Convention on International Trade (Tamandua tetradactyla chapadensis is included in Appendix II). in the genus giant anteaters one species: the giant anteater M. tridactyla, which is listed in the IUCN Red List and Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade.
The animal anteater belongs to the class of mammals of the anteater family, the order of edentulous. This family includes two genera (giant and four-toed anteaters), three species (giant, four-toed and Mexican tamanduas) and eleven subspecies. Representatives of species and subspecies differ from each other, but there are also General characteristics common to all animals.
Anatomy of an anteater
The animals of this family have an elongated body, the head and especially the nose are very elongated, the tip of the nose is narrow, has the shape of a tube, the eyes and ears are small, the body length is from 20 to 120 cm, the tail is about 90 cm, with its help animals can climb trees. The absence of teeth in anteaters is compensated by a long muscular tongue with sharp spikes; in giant anteaters, its length is 50-70 cm. The skeleton of animals consists of caudal, sacral, lumbar and dorsal vertebrae. Wide ribs are attached to the dorsal vertebrae, overlapping each other. A well-developed sense of smell helps in the search for prey.
Family: Anteaters
Class: Mammals
Order: edentulous
Type: Chordates
Kingdom: Animals
Domain: Eukaryotes
Where does the anteater live?
Anteaters love warmth, so their habitat is the countries of South America and Mexico. Members of this family prefer rainforests and savannas with abundant vegetation
What does an anteater eat?
Under natural conditions, representatives of the anteater family feed on termites and ants, whose dwellings they destroy with strong front paws, and with a sticky tongue they collect runaway insects. Rarely eat other small insects, larvae and berries. In captivity, they can eat fruits, meat, eggs, which need to be crushed, since the animal has no teeth and a very small mouth.
Anteater lifestyle
Animals are active at dusk and at night. Giant anteaters lead a terrestrial lifestyle, dwarf anteaters - arboreal, four-legged - terrestrial-arboreal.
Anteater breeding
Anteaters live alone and only during the mating season in spring and autumn pair up to conceive offspring, after which the male leaves the female. Carrying a cub lasts from 3 to 6 months, depending on the species. The female brings one cub once a year and raises it until the next pregnancy, sometimes up to two years of age. He carries the baby on his back.
It never ceases to amaze with the unusualness of the animal world. One of the most amazing animals is ant-eater.
The anteater belongs to the family of mammals, the order of edentulous. So dryly written about him in encyclopedic sources. This is an interesting animal, to which our perception is still unusual. Its habitat is the forests and shrouds of the South and Central.
For vigorous activity, the anteater prefers the night, and during the day he sleeps, covering himself with his tail and curled up into a ball. Anteaters of small species climb trees so as not to fall into the clutches of predators, and a large or giant anteater settles directly on the ground. He is not afraid of an attack, because he can easily defend himself with powerful paws with claws that reach 10 cm.
The appearance of this animal is very peculiar. Powerful paws, a small, elongated head, small eyes, ears are also small, but the muzzle is long, ending in a tiny mouth that has no teeth.
The anteater is devoid of teeth, but nature has provided it with a powerful and long tongue, which exceeds the size of the tongues of a giraffe and even an elephant. The tongue is narrow - no more than a centimeter, anteater tongue length- 60 centimeters, which is almost half of the entire body of the animal (without a tail). The end of the tongue grows from the sternum. Little of, salivary glands moisten the tongue and give it an incredible stickiness.
And this powerful organ moves with the greatest speed - up to 160 times per minute. The horny bristles that cover the entire palate of the animal help it scrape off insects from the tongue.
The stomach is muscular, processes food with the help of small pebbles and sand, which the anteater specifically swallows. The tongue is sticky, sticky, and all the small insects that the anteater hunts instantly stick to it.
And the main menu of this beast are ants and termites. But, anteater animal not capricious. In the absence of anthills and termite mounds, it easily absorbs larvae, centipedes, worms, or even just berries, which it plucks not with its tongue, but with its lips.
Anteaters are mainly divided into three types:
- Large anteater (giant) - the length of his body reaches 130 cm,
- Medium (tamandua) - from 65-75 cm,
- Dwarf (silk) - up to 50 cm.
Large giant anteater
This is the most big representative all anteaters. Its tail alone reaches a length of at least a meter. Its front paws are equipped with four fingers with intimidating claws. It is because of the claws that the anteater has such a gait - he has to rely only on the outer side of the wrist, and tuck his claws.
Therefore, the anteater runner is rather weak. It is easier for an anteater to fight than to flee. To intimidate the enemy, the animal takes a "stance" - it stands on its hind legs and menacingly raises its front paws forward. With clawed paws, he is capable of inflicting serious injuries.
The giant's coat is very hard and varies in length in all parts of the body. On the head it is too short, on the body it is longer, and on the tail it reaches 45 cm. large anteater lives only in South America. He is attracted to deserted places, where he actively behaves at any time of the day, but when next to a person he tries to leave the shelter only at night.
The huge, clawed paws of the anteater help him break through termite mounds and rake anthills, which he feeds on. Anteaters have two mating seasons - in spring and autumn, after which one cub is born in the female at 1.5 - 1.7 kg. She bears it for about six months, but small anteaters become independent only after two years. All this time they are with their mother.
Medium anteater - tamandua
Tamandua is a special genus of anteater, because it has 4 fingers on the front limbs, and five on the back. He prefers to live in trees, because his length barely reaches 60 cm, with a tail - 100 cm.
It is half the size of its giant relative, although it is very similar to it, but differs only in the tail. Its tail is thick, strong, promotes climbing trees. The coat color of the South Eastern Tamandua is usually white-yellow, with a black back (as if in a T-shirt), a black muzzle and rings around the eyes.
The cubs are completely white-yellow in color, only by the end of the second year they begin to acquire the color of an adult animal. And representatives of the northwest have a monochromatic color - gray-white, black or brown.
This anteater settles in the same countries where the giant one, but its range is slightly larger, reaching Peru. Prefers wooded areas, in bushes and even on the edges. It can be both on the ground and in the trees, where it climbs to sleep.
When laying to sleep, he hooks his tail on a branch, curls up into a ball and covers his muzzle with his paws. Tamandua feeds on ants, for the most part those that live in trees. It is curious that in an agitated state this animal spreads a very unpleasant, strong smell.
Pygmy anteater (silk)
This anteater is the complete opposite of its big brother. The length of his body is only 40 cm with a tail. This animal also has a long muzzle and a strong, strong tail - after all, it has to live all the time in the trees. His coat is golden, silky, for which the pygmy anteater was called silk.
Despite its small size, this animal is a worthy "fighter", it meets its enemies with a fighting stance and attacks with its front, clawed paws. And yet, he has enough enemies, so the animal leads only a nocturnal lifestyle and does not descend to the ground.
Pairs are formed only for the period of mating and raising offspring. After the first few days that the cub spends in the hollow, he is transplanted onto the backs of his father or mother.
Both the male and the female raise the cub with the same care. These interesting representatives anteaters different kind both similar and different from each other. Such an anteater as nambat is very curious, or marsupial anteater.
Marsupial anteater and its features
marsupial anteater belongs to the order of carnivorous marsupials. He lives in. The animals from Western Australia have black stripes on their backs, and the inhabitants Eastern Australia are more uniform in color. This is a small animal, whose length does not exceed 27 cm, and the weight is not more than 550 grams. the muzzle is elongated, pointed, the tongue is long and thin.
But here, unlike other anteaters, they have teeth. Moreover, this animal is one of the most toothy predators on earth - it has up to 52 teeth. True, he cannot boast of the quality of his teeth - his teeth are small, weak, asymmetrical. Eyes and ears are large, paws with sharp claws.
Interestingly, “marsupial” is not quite the right name. The nambat does not have a bag, and the cubs, which the female brings 2 or 4, stick their mouths to the nipples and hang like that. This is an amazing feature that no other animal can boast of.
Anteater as a pet
This animal is so interesting that many lovers of the unusual have it at home. As a rule, they give birth to tamandua. Anteaters are very smart, their owners manage to teach their pets some commands, they even manage to open the refrigerator themselves.
And, of course, they should not be upset at all, otherwise the pet will be forced to defend itself. To prevent his claws from being so dangerous, it is recommended to trim them twice a week.
It is known that Salvador Dali, after reading Andre Breton's poem "After the Giant Anteater", became so interested in the anteater that he even started it at home.
He walked him on the streets of Paris on a golden leash and even went with his pet to social events. Anteater Dali considered a romantic animal. Anteaters are unusual animals. It is very sad that their number is only decreasing every year.
