When people think of cute baby animals, they often reference kittens, puppies, bear cubs or even piglets. Baby ducklings and elephants and panda bears grace the walls of children’s nurseries. Baby lion cubs get their own Disney movies. But let us consider for a moment the humble anteater. Is it not, too, a mammal, and thus blessed with the inherent, cute “baby schema” which supposedly characterizes all mammals, the attractiveness which means that the adults of the species are more likely to pity and care for their young?
After looking at this surprisingly adorable baby giant anteater who was just born at the Connecticut zoo, I’d say anteaters have very little to worry about. They’re super cute, too.
The Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport, Connecticut, just announced the birth of their newest baby, an anteater pup born to two of the zoo’s Giant Anteaters. The parents, EO and Pana, are both fifteen years old and share three other offspring.
Related: Florida Sanctuary Anteater’s Long Snout Is Leaving People Impressed
The pup was a little less than four pounds at birth, though already had fur that matched its mothers, the better for camouflaging when it rode on its mother’s back, as pups of this species may do for a year or more as they grow.
All About Giant Anteaters
Giant Anteaters are the largest species in the anteater family. They are native to Central and South America, where they road forests, swamps, and grasslands. Distantly related to sloths, this species of anteater is terrestrial in nature, and can grow to over seven feet long and weigh over a hundred pounds. True to its name, the anteater is primarily insectivorous, eating both ants and termites by digging up nests of the bugs with its sharp claws and long, specialized snout, then using its long, sticky tongue to lap up the insects.
Anteaters are generally solitary by nature, and give birth to young one at a time. Just because the anteaters at this zoo have been paired four times does not incite a long-term partnership or mating strategy. In the wild, anteaters only associate with each other during the courtship and mating ritual and then go their separate ways.
An Extremely Specialized Species
The anteater has no teeth and its highly unusual, long thin skull is specialized for its feeding habits. The jaw has extremely limited mobility, and its mouth is very small, so it relies on the tongue to help it grasp its prey. Inside its mouth, the tongue will grind captured insects along its palate to be swallowed, and it even uses the formic acid of these insects to aid in digestion.
Currently, anteaters have a broad range in their native lands, but their population is vulnerable to habitat loss as well as climate change, particularly due to the extremely specialized niche that they inhabit.
Zoos that keep anteaters, such as the Beardsley Zoo often put their meals in long tubes (like PVC pipes) with holes cut into them to mimic the conditions that the animals might find in the wild. There are many commercial feeds made for insectivorous animals like reptiles and birds, and they are adapted for an anteaters specific nutritional needs.
The pup in this video will stay with its mother nursing for several months, and hopefully it will soon be available for public viewing in Connecticut.
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Publish date : 2024-09-19 08:14:00
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