Giant Anteater
© Martin @ Negaro/Flickr
Giant Anteater
Scientific name is Myrmecophaga tridactyla
Found in Central America (Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa
Rica) and South America (Venezuela, Colombia,
Ecuador, Brazil, Peru, Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia).
What habitat do they live in?
Giant Anteaters can live in grasslands, woodlands
and rainforests.
© Emily Y Horton
Why are they threatened?
The biggest threat comes from habitat loss. The
habitat of the Giant Anteater is used by people for
farming and development.
Giant Anteaters are hunted by Jaguars and Pumas, but
its
biggest
enemy
people.
Click
here to
learnisabout
other threats to the Giant Anteater
People hunt the Giant Anteater for food, or because they
are a pest, or to catch and keep as a pet.
© Ramón Delgado
Giant Anteaters are also killed on roads or when the
grassland they live in is burnt by farmers.
How do they communicate?
© Hugo del Castillo
Giant Anteaters are quiet animals and mostly just
snuffle at each other, but if two males get into a
fight they may bellow quite loudly.
What do they eat?
Giant Anteaters eat ants. They also eat termites
and some other insects.
Image of animal in captivity © Martin @ Negaro/Flickr
They have no teeth, but they swallow small stones
with the insects and this probably helps them grind
up their food.
Strong claws used to rip open ant and termite mounds
They use their long sticky tongues to ‘lick-up’ insects.
How big are they?
Look
the picture.
do you
Giant long.
Anteaters are?
Fromatnose
to tailHow
theybigcan
be 2think
metres
Click to find out
What do they look like?
Click for arrows
Long, narrow nose and
head, and a long tongue.
© Hermann Brehm/NPL
They are grey in
colour with a black
stripe running from
just under the chin to
along the shoulder.
They have rubbery skin, covered in stiff, long hairs.
They have long bushy tails.
Tell me about their babies:
Image of animal in captivity © Orangebrompton/Flickr
After giving birth to just one baby, the female will carry
it on her back for nearly a year. When it is strong
enough the baby will get down to walk around on its
own sometimes.
How long do they live?
It can take 3 years for a Giant Anteater to reach full size
and weight (to ‘grow up’), and they live for 16 years.
Interesting facts:
The tongue of a Giant Anteater can be
up to 60 cm long.
Giant Anteaters are quite good swimmers.
If they are threatened they will run away,
or stand up on their back legs, using their
tail as a prop, and defend themselves with
their strong front legs and claws.
A story from the wild:
In Paraguay in December 2009 Leticia and Pepe, from a
conservation organisation called Guyra Paraguay, were walking
It
was a very hot day and they had been surveying
along a trail in the Dry Chaco.
(collecting information) on animal tracks and signs
Map of Paraguay
since very early that morning.
Click here to see where the Dry Chaco is in Paraguay
Dry Chaco
Click to see a picture of the Dry Chaco
© Hugo del Castillo
A story from the wild:
At
10 o’clock
the morning
it was
too hot
Pepe
turned in
around
and saw
that aalready
Giant Anteater
to
do walking
much more
work,
they
decided
to take
was
across
theso
trail
in front
of them.
Here is
pictures
to of
include
their
reports.
the photo
Pepe,inyou
can
see the tail of the Giant
Anteater
asait photo
crossed
the trail
in suddenly
the distance.
Leticia
took
of Pepe
and
started to shout ‘oh...freeze! freeze!’
Click to see the
photo Leticia
took.
Click again to
see what Pepe
was looking at.
© Leticia Lopez
Image of animal in captivity © Clarissa/Flickr
If you choose the Giant Anteater as your fundraising
focus, your donation will go towards World Land Trust
projects for the conservation of wildlife habitat in
Paraguay.