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The Southern Tamandua |
| Kingdom: |
Animalia |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Edentata (Latin for "without teeth") |
| Family: | Myrmecophagidae--(Greek/Latin for "ant eaters") |
| Genus: | Tamandua (from the native Tupi language--"ant catcher") |
| Species: | Tamandua tetradactyla (tamandua with four digits") |
| Why it is way cool! | The tamanduas are arboreal (tree dwelling) anteaters of South
America. They give birth to only one offspring at a time and the mother cares for it for a
two-year period. They live almost exclusively on ants and termites with they lick up with
their long sticky tongues. Appropriate to their diet their mouth opening is only 1 cm
wide. and they have no teeth. Despite their lack of biting power, when attacked by predators, they put up an impressive and quite unique defense. They embrace their attacker in a bear hug, and tear at vigorously with their very large claws. |
