22 Interesting Facts About Anteaters

Anteaters are small to medium-sized mammals and vulnerable species found in the south and central American region. The species is categorized into four types known as the giant Anteater, silky Anteater, northern tamandua, and southern tamandua. Anteaters live in rain forests, dry tropical forests, savannas, and grasslands. As its name suggests, they eat ants, termites, and small insects to feed themselves.

1. Anteaters live long, 2 to 15 years in the wild and up to 25 years in human care.
2. Giant Anteater can be about 1.8m (5ft 11in) long, including the tail; the silk anteater about 35 cm (14 inches) long; collared Anteater about 1.2m (3ft 11inch) long.
3. Anteaters are considered carnivores, but they also eat fruits.
4. A Group of anteaters is often called the parade.
5. Anteaters are the lowest body temperature mammals with a fluctuating body temperature between 33 and 36°C (91 and 97°F) and can tolerate more significant body temperature fluctuations than any other mammal.
6. Anteaters are also known as antbears.
7. Anteaters are generally very quiet mammals.
8. Anteater’s main predators are jaguars and cougars.
9. They have poor vision but an excellent smelling sense and also have a good hearing ability. It is believed that anteaters have 40 times more powerful smelling power than humans.
10. Anteater doesn’t have teeth and can extend their tongue about 2 feet (60cm).
11. Male Anteater weighs about 33 to 50 kg (73 to 110 lb). Females are smaller between 27 to 47 kg (60 to 104 lb).
12. The tongue is attached to the sternum, which moves at a high rate, flicking 150 to 160 times per minute. Their sticky tongue makes it easy for them to catch their prey.
13. The tongue is covered in tiny spines that are sticky, which makes it easy to catch ants.
14. They spend over 15 hours a day sleeping and the rest of the time hunting ants.
15. They catch termites or ants through the hole on the top of the anthill and eat up to 30000 ants a day without being bitten by ants.
16. During eating ants or termites, Anteater never destroys anthills so that they can come back for more later.
17. Anteaters have unusual stomach acid. They produce formic acid instead of hydrochloric acid, which is specifically designed for grinding large quantities of ants and termites, which can be hard to digest.
18. Their pregnancy lasts up to 190 days for a single pup. The mother gives birth while standing up, supported by her tail. The pup hitches a ride on the back of the mother from birth. For the first six days of its life, it is blind with its eyes still closed. During this time, it communicates with the mother using a series of short whistles.
19. Anteaters are mostly solitary mammals who defend their 2.6- to the 3.9-km territory. They rarely enter the territory of another anteater of the same sex, but males frequently enter that of associated females.
20. Anteaters have long claws about 4 inches(10 cm) long, which they use to defend themselves from their predators.
21. They hunt by smell, not by sight, as they can not see colors very clearly.
22. Anteaters are strong swimmers and can travel long distances through swimming.