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Name : Silky anteater ( Cyclopes didactylus )
Where it lives : From southern Mexico to South America ( Peru , Bolivia and Brazil )
What it eat : ant , wasp , wasp pupa , white ant and low beetles
Why it ’s awesome : At only around 14 ounces ( 400 g ) and 14 to 18 inches ( 35 to 45 centimeters ) long ( include its tail ) , the silky anteater is the world ’s smallest anteater . This solitary fauna has dumb , balmy fur . But although it may depend cute and downy , make no mistake : This creature will put up a fight when it ’s threatened .
When a silky anteater encounters a menace , it uses its tail as an anchorperson , stands on its hind legs , and strikes using its large , curving claws . Itsr bottom is longsighted than its body and prehensile , meaning it can hold onto things .
And the silky anteater , also call the pygmy anteater , has another trick to fight back itself : When it find a predator , such as a harpy bird of Jove ( Harpia harpyja ) or a spectacled bird of Minerva ( Pulsatrix perspicillata ) , it curl into a ball to resemble the seed seedcase found in silk - cotton trees to ward off being hear .
silken anteaters are arboreal , meaning they live in the treetops of lowland rainforests and seldom come down to the ground . Their feet are alter to go up and have long claws to grip tree trunks and branches .
Biologists used to mean all silkies were a single coinage . But in 2018 , ataxonomic review — which examined the DNA , color patterns and off-white structure of 287 live and museum specimens — revealed that there may be more than seven metal money of this tiny animate being .
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As their name suggests , they in the main eat on ant — and they consume up to5,000of these louse a day . Their long chela help them rip exposed ant nest . They use their sensitive pink - fee nose to sniff out food and their viscid , longsighted tongue to trap ants and other little insects .
Like all spiny anteater , the silky lacks teeth . scientist call back that over millions of year , anteaters lost the genes to make tooth enamel because they ate soft insect that did n’t demand potent tooth , according to a 2023study .
