Anteater Knit Anteater

Quirky animals +1 Anteater

Anteaters are a collective term for the family Myrmecophagidae in the order Pilosa.
They are about 1.3 meters long; their heads are small; their eyes and ears are very small; their snout is tubular; their tongue is long and slender, covered in mucus, and can be extended and retracted; and their tail is covered in long hair. Their bodies are grey, with broad black longitudinal stripes on the back and sides, bordered with white.
Anteaters are found in South and North America, Africa and Australia. They live in tropical and subtropical regions; they find food through scent, and feed on social insects, mainly ants and termites.
Mating occurs in the autumn, and the young are born in the spring. The lactation period is approximately 6 months; young remain with the mother until sexual maturity.
Apart from small-scale use of the skins of smaller anteaters in the local leather industry, they have virtually no commercial value and are rarely hunted as food. However, due to habitat loss and human encroachment, giant anteaters have disappeared from Central America.