Perhaps you can call the anteaters one of the strangest animals on Earth. In total, scientists discovered four species of anteater: dwarf anteater, four-fingered anteater, tamandua and giant anteater.
The closest relatives of anteaters are battleships, but these animals are not alike at all. Depending on the species, the anteaters can grow to different sizes. The smallest is considered a dwarf anteater, the length of its body reaches no more than 20 centimeters. The largest is the giant anteater, which grows to 2 meters. The remaining two species, on average, reach 55 centimeters in length, and their mass is 3 to 5 kilograms.
The most surprising in the external appearance of an anteater is its muzzle. She is stretched out in a long tube, and the jaws of this animal are so fused that he can barely open his mouth. But nature does not do anything just like that, so the anteater is not for nothing that it is arranged: it almost does not need anything to fall (there are no teeth in it), it has a long tongue. With it, the animal deftly pulls insects from the most inaccessible places: from under the bark of trees, from narrow slots, etc.
As for the wool, the hairy cover has a special length and stiffness in the giant anteater, the other three species of these animals have short fur.
The habitat of these mammals are both of the Americas, anteaters inhabit Paraguay, Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina, Uruguay and some other countries. These representatives of a detachment of incomplete teeth settle in grassy plains (called pampas, in which, by the way, a giant anteater lives), and also in the woodlands (this applies to other anteater species whose life is inextricably linked to tree lasagna).
The greatest activity in these mammals is manifested in the dark. Resting anteaters in the afternoon, they can calmly allow themselves to lie in the middle of the open area, curled up, because they really have no one to be afraid of.
In the way of life anteaters – singles, they do not just do not like to live in pairs or groups, and even try to avoid meeting with their own kind. The only food for anteaters is insects. The main food of these animals is ants and termites. In view of the complete absence of teeth, only small insects are suitable for eating anteaters, so the choice of ants and termites is not accidental.
