Giant Anteater

The giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) is the largest of the four anteater species, reaching up to 2.1 meters from snout to tail, and is found across a broad range of habitats in Central and South America, from dry grasslands and savannas to tropical forests. It has no teeth; instead, its tongue can extend roughly 60 centimeters and carries dense, backward-pointing spines coated in sticky saliva, allowing it to consume tens of thousands of ants and termites in a single day without destroying the mounds it feeds from.

Listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, the giant anteater has disappeared from much of its historical range and populations continue to decline. The primary threats are habitat loss driven by agricultural expansion and fire, both accidental and deliberately set to clear land, along with road collisions and hunting. In Brazil's Cerrado, one of the world's most biodiverse savannas, giant anteaters are among the animals most frequently killed on roads. Their slow reproductive rate, producing a single offspring every one to two years, means populations recover slowly once numbers fall.