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Southern Tamandua — printable fact sheet
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Southern Tamandua
Tamandua tetradactyla
The southern tamandua (Tamandua tetradactyla) is the lesser anteater of South America, a strictly toothless animal that catches ants and termites with a 40-centimetre tongue coated in sticky saliva from enormous salivary glands and flicked in and out up to 150 times a minute. It…
Did you know?
- Unlike many mammals, the Southern Tamandua has no teeth—it uses its tongue and strong stomach muscles to process its insect prey.
- A tamandua may visit dozens of ant and termite nests in a night but spends only about a minute at each, which prevents it from wiping out its own food supply. It has no teeth at all and grinds insects in a muscular, keratin-lined stomach. Its anal gland is said to be far more pungent than a skunk's, earning it the name "stinker of the forest". Its claws are so large it cannot put its palms flat, and it walks on the sides of its wrists.
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