Anteaters, also known as antbears, are the four mammal species of the suborder Vermilingua (meaning "worm tongue") commonly known for eating ants and termites. Together with the sloths, they compose the order Pilosa. The name "anteater" is also colloquially applied to the unrelated aardvark, numbat, echidnas, and pangolins.
Extant species include the giant anteater Myrmecophaga tridactyla, about 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) long including the tail; the sil...
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Anteaters, also known as antbears, are the four mammal species of the suborder Vermilingua (meaning "worm tongue") commonly known for eating ants and termites. Together with the sloths, they compose the order Pilosa. The name "anteater" is also colloquially applied to the unrelated aardvark, numbat, echidnas, and pangolins.
Extant species include the giant anteater Myrmecophaga tridactyla, about 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) long including the tail; the silky anteater Cyclopes didactylus, about 35 cm (14 in) long; the southern tamandua or collared anteater Tamandua tetradactyla, about 1.2 m (3 ft 11 in) long; and the northern tamandua Tamandua mexicana of similar dimensions.
The anteaters are more closely related to the sloths than they are to any other group of mammals, even to the armadillos, their next closest relations. Three genera are still living: the giant and the silky anteaters, and the northern and southern tamanduas, and several genera are extinct.
Order Pilosa
All anteaters have...
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