Finding and Catching Food

In the grasslands, wetlands, and wooded areas of Central and South America, giant anteaters search for tiny ants and termites. Anteaters have a specialized tongue that is long and thin (like spaghetti), 2-ft long, and covered in sticky saliva. They do not have teeth, so their tongues scoop up the ants and termites and their vacuum-like throat slurps them in. They can flick their tongues into termite mounds and anthills at a rate of 3 times per second, allowing them to eat more than 30,000 insects in a single day! They seek out bugs using their impressive sense of smell; scientists estimate they can smell 40 times better than humans.

Giant anteaters are also known for their unusual appearance. They grow to be about the size of a golden retriever, but their hair makes them look much larger. Their hair grows long on their tails and can be used as a blanket on cold nights. You may notice that giant anteaters walk on their knuckles. This is to protect their 3-inch long claws that can rip into termite mounds as hard as cement! While we don’t often picture anteaters as powerful predators, their incredible adaptations allow them to make easy prey out of ants and termites.