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The toothless giant anteater, found only in South America, spends its day shuffling awkwardly along, sniffing the ground with its long snout in search of ant nests.

Habitat the giant anteater lives a solitary life. It is rarely seen with another anteater. When two animals are together, it is either for the purpose of mating or it is a mother with her young.
Its habitat includes the rainforests, grasslands, and mixed forest and semiarid regions of Central and South America. It spends its day searching for food with the help of its exceptional sense of smell and hearing. Its range is usually about one-half square mile. In areas where food is less abundant, it could be one mile.
At night, the giant anteater will either scrape out a hollow in the soil in which to sleep or it will use the existing burrow of another animal. When it sleeps, it curls its bushy tail, which is almost as long as its body, around itself to keep warm.

The giant anteater is a solitary animal, spending most of its day searching for its favorite meal of ants. The largest of the four types of anteater, it lives and feeds on the ground. Its smaller relatives spend much of their time in trees.

Breeding Little is known about the courtship and mating habits of giant anteaters. It is believed that males and females come together only to mate. The mother carries the young inside her for 190 days. The mother gives birth while standing and will use her long tail like a third leg for support.
At birth, the baby immediately scrambles onto its mother’s back. It has a complete coat of fur that is so similar in color to its mother’s that the youngster is often difficult to recognize when it is with its mother. The mother suckles her young for about siz months. During this time, the baby will cling to its mother’s back, although it is able to walk a month after birth.
Giant anteaters are usually silent, but a youngster will whistle shrilly when it is left alone. The offspring is slow to mature; it does not become independent until the mother is pregnant again and will not feed on its own until it is two years old.

Food & hunting The giant anteater’s diet consists mainly of ground-dwelling ants, although it will occasionally eat termites and army ants. THe anteater’s acute sense of smell detects the ants. Its long claws are used to get into the nests. It catches the ants with its long, sticky tongue. It gets most of the moisture it needs from its food, which includes fruit and larvae.
The giant anteater is prey to jaguars and other large cats, although its coat of dense hair gives it good camouflage. It will use its long claws to defend itself and with them it can inflict serious wounds on a predator.

Did you know?

• The giant anteater’s sense of smell is 40 times more powerful than man’s.
• The giant anteater is from the order Edentata which means “without teeth.”
• The body temperature of the giant anteater is only 32-35 degrees Fahrenheit, which enables it to survive on the low caloric content of its food.
• An early form of anteater was known to have existed some 20 million years ago.
• A giant anteater will sleep up to 15 hours a day.

Key facts
Body length: 40-48 in.
Tail length: 28-35 in.
Weight: 44-90 lb. Males slightly heavier than females.
Lifespan: 26 years in captivity.

Conservation The giant anteater is the most vulnerable species of anteater and is likely to become in danger of extinction in the next few years, unless measures are taken now.

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