Let's meet someone 'giant' with long tongue and specific diet - Giant anteater.
Giant anteater
The giant anteater can be identified by its large size, elongated muzzle, and long bushy tail. It has a total body length of 182 to 217 cm (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in to 7 ft 1+1⁄2 in). Males weigh 33 to 50 kg (73 to 110 lb) and females weigh 27 to 47 kg (60 to 104 lb), making the giant anteater the biggest extant species in its suborder. The head of the giant anteater, at 30 cm (12 in) long, is particularly elongated, even when compared to other anteaters. Its tubular snout, which ends in its tiny mouth opening and nostrils, takes up most of its head. Its eyes and ears are relatively small. It has poor eyesight, but its sense of smell is 40 times more sensitive than that of humans.
Even for an anteater, the neck is especially thick compared to the back of the head, and a small hump is found at the back of the neck. The coat is mostly greyish, brown or black and salted with white. The forelimbs are white, with black bands around the wrists, while the hindlimbs are dark. Thick black bands with white outlines stretch from throat to shoulder, ending in triangular points. The body ends in a brown tail. The coat hairs are long, especially on the tail, which makes the tail look larger than it actually is. A stiff mane stretches along the back. The bold pattern was thought to be disruptive camouflage, but a 2009 study suggests it is warning coloration. While adult males are slightly larger and more muscular than females, with wider heads and necks, visual sex determination can be difficult. The penis and testes are located internally between the rectum and urinary bladder in males, and females have a single pair of mammary glands near the armpits.
The giant anteater has broad ribs. Despite its specific name, tridactyla, meaning three fingers, it has five toes on each foot. Four toes on the front feet have claws, which are particularly elongated on the second and third digits. It walks on its front knuckles similar to gorillas and chimpanzees. Doing this allows the giant anteater to keep its claws out of the way while walking. The middle digits, which support most of its weight, are extended at the metacarpophalangeal joints and bent at the interphalangeal joints. Unlike the front feet, the hind feet have short claws on all five toes and walk plantigrade. As a "hook-and-pull" digger, the giant anteater's enlarged supraspinous fossa gives the teres major more leverage—increasing the front limbs' pulling power—and the triceps muscle helps power the flexion of the thickened third digit of the front feet.
This animal is an insectivore, feeding mostly on ants or termites. In areas that experience seasonal flooding, like the grassy plains of the Venezuelan-Colombian Llanos, anteaters mainly feed on ants, because termites are less available. Conversely, anteaters at Emas National Park eat mainly termites, which occur in high density on the grasslands. At Serra da Canastra, anteaters switch between eating mainly ants during the wet season (October to March) and termites during the dry season (May to September).
Anteaters track prey by their scent. After finding a nest, the animal tears it open with its long fore claws and inserts its long, sticky tongue to collect its prey. An anteater spends one minute on average feeding at a nest, visiting up to 200 nests in one day and consuming as many as 30,000 insects. The anteater may be driven away from a nest by the chemical or biting attacks of soldiers. Some termite species rely on their fortified mounds for protection and many individuals escape while the predator digs. These modes of defense prevent the entire colony from being eaten in one anteater attack.
Giant anteaters typically rest in dense brush, but may use tall grass on cooler days. They carve a shallow cavity in the ground for resting. The animal sleeps curled up with its bushy tail folded over its body. The tail serves both to conserve body heat and as camouflage. One anteater was recorded sleeping with its tail stretched out on a sunny morning with an ambient temperature of 17 °C (63 °F); possibly it was positioned this way to allow its body to absorb the sun's rays for warmth.
Giant anteaters are good swimmers and are capable of moving through wide rivers. They have been observed to bathe. They are also able to climb and have been recorded ascending both termite mounds and trees while foraging. One individual was observed holding onto a branch with its feet just touching the ground.
Distribution
The giant anteater is native to Central and South America. Its known range stretches from Honduras to the Gran Chaco region, and fossil remains have been found as far north as northwestern Sonora, Mexico. It is largely absent from the Andes and has been fully extirpated in Uruguay, Belize, El Salvador, and Guatemala, as well as in parts of Costa Rica, Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay. The species is found in a number of habitats including both tropical rainforest and xeric shrubland, provided enough prey is present to sustain it.
Conservation
The species is listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, due to the number of regional extirpations, and under Appendix II by CITES, tightly restricting international trade in specimens of the animal and its parts and derivatives. Between 2000 and 2010, the total population declined by 30%. In 1994, some 340 giant anteaters died due to wildfires at Emas National Park in Brazil. The animal is particularly vulnerable to fires due to its slow movement and flammable coat.
Human-induced threats include collision with vehicles, attacks by dogs, and destruction of habitat. One study of anteater mortality along roads found that they are likely to become roadkill on straight roads with native vegetation along the side. A 2018 study in Brazil found that: (1) fragmentation of habitat could be more detrimental than road mortality, (2) 18–21% of suitable anteater habitat was below minimum patch size, (3) 0.1–1% of its distribution was maximum road density, (4) 32–36% of the anteater's range represented critical areas for its survival and (5) more conservation opportunities existed in the north of the country.
The giant anteater is commonly hunted in Bolivia, both for sport and sustenance. The animal's thick, leathery hide is used to make equestrian equipment in the Chaco. In Venezuela, it is hunted for its claws. Giant anteaters are killed for safety reasons, due to their reputation as dangerous animals. The giant anteater remains widespread. Some populations are stable and the animal is found in various protected areas in the Amazon, Pantanal and the Cerrado. It is officially protected in some Argentine provinces as a national heritage species.
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