Anteaters feed exclusively on insects and not all in a row, but only the smallest species – ants and termites. Such selectivity is associated with the lack of teeth: since the anteater can not chew food, it swallows insects entirely, and in the stomach they are digested with very aggressive gastric juice. In order for the food to digest faster, it should be small enough, therefore large ants do not eat anteaters.
However, the anteater facilitates the work of his stomach by partially rubbing or squashing insects on a hard sky at the time of ingestion. Since the food for small anteaters is small, they are forced to absorb it in large quantities, so they are in constant search. Anteaters move like living vacuums, tilting their heads to the ground and continuously sniffing and sucking in their mouths all the edible (they have a very sharp sense of smell).
With powerful claws anteaters demolish the termite and quickly lick termites from the surface. During the feast, the language of the anteater moves at a tremendous speed (up to 160 times per minute!), Which is why it has such powerful musculature. Insects adhere to the tongue due to sticky saliva, the salivary glands also reach huge sizes and are attached to the sternum, like the tongue.
