wildlife

Giant Anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla)

I present to you another one of Guyana's Giants, the giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla).

It has a specialized tongue that is about 2 ft long with tiny, backward-pointing spines laced with sticky saliva which aids in feeding on ants and/or termites. They consume about 30,000 ants/termites a day at rates of 150 tongue flicks a minute when on the nest.

These animals also have sharp claws reaching up to 4 inches which they use to excavate termite/ant nest, fend of predators, and climb trees.

This individual was spotted on an overcast day at around 9 o clock A.M. which I was able to strategically approach it downwind since they have a keen sense of smell. As I moved in it eventually caught my scent which it decided to investigate further allowing me to get a close encounter. As it got too close we made a loud noise and we both went our separate ways.

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