Silky Anteater

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Silky Anteater

Silky Anteater or Pygmy Anteater (Cyclopes didactylus) is a species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
of anteater

Anteater

Anteaters are the four mammal species of the suborder Vermilingua commonly known for eating ants and termites. Together with the sloths, they compose the order Pilosa....
from Central

Central America

Central America is a central geography region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmus portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast....
and South America

South America

South America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere....
ranging from extreme southern Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
south to Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the List of countries by population country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world....
and, possibly, Paraguay

Paraguay

Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay , is one of the only two landlocked countries in South America . It lies on both banks of the Paraguay River and is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest....
. It is the only species in the Cyclopes genus and the Cyclopedidae family.

It is the smallest member of the anteaters, with total length ranging from 360 to 450 mm (14.1-17.7 in) and usually weighing less than 400 g (0.88 lbs).

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Encyclopedia

Silky Anteater or Pygmy Anteater (Cyclopes didactylus) is a species

Species

Anteater

Anteaters are the four mammal species of the suborder Vermilingua commonly known for eating ants and termites. Together with the sloths, they compose the order Pilosa....
from Central

Central America

South America

Mexico

Brazil

Paraguay

Prehensile tail

A prehensile tail is the tail of an animal that has Adaptation to be able to grasp and/or hold objects. Fully prehensile tails can be used to hold and manipulate objects, and in particular to aid arboreal creatures in finding and eating food in the trees....
and two very enlarged claws in each forepaw.

Subspecies

Cyclopes didactylus catellus Thomas

Oldfield Thomas

Oldfield Thomas Fellow of the Royal Society was a United Kingdom zoologist.Thomas worked at the Natural History Museum on mammals, describing about 2,000 new species and sub-species for the first time....
, 1928

Cyclopes didactylus dorsalis Gray

John Edward Gray

John Edward Gray was a United Kingdom zoology. He was the elder brother of George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray ....
, 1865

Cyclopes didactylus eva Thomas, 1902

Cyclopes didactylus ida Thomas, 1900

Cyclopes didactylus melini Lönnberg

Einar Lönnberg

Axel Johann Einar L?nnberg was a Sweden zoologist.L?nnberg was born in Stockholm. He was head of the Vertebrate Department of the Swedish Natural History Museum from 1904 to 1932....
, 1928

Cyclopes didactylus mexicanus Hollister

Ned Hollister

Ned Hollister was an American biologist primarily known for studying mammals. From 1916 until his death he was Superintendent of the National Zoological Park....
, 1914

Natural history

It is a nocturnal and arboreal

Arboreal

Arboreal is a word meaning "related to or resembling trees". Its meaning comes from the Latin arbor, meaning tree.In biology, an arboreal animal is one which inhabits or spends large amounts of time in trees or Shrubes....
animal, found in lowland rainforests with continuous canopy

Canopy (forest)

Canopy refers to the aboveground portion of a plant community or crop, formed by Crown_.Canopy is also the term for the upper layer or zone of a forest, formed by Crown_ and including other biological organisms ....
where they can move to different places without the need to descend from trees. It can occur at fairly high densities of 0.77 individuals/ha, for example, in some areas. Females have smaller home ranges than males.

The Silky Anteater is a slow moving animal and feeds mainly on ants, between 100 and 8000 a day. Sometimes it can also feed on other insects, such as termites and small coccinellid beetles. It is reported to defecate only once a day. Some of those feces, examined by scientists, showed a large quantity of exoskeleton

Exoskeleton

An exoskeleton is an external skeleton that supports and protects an animal's body, in contrast to the internal endoskeleton of, for example, a human skeleton....
fragments of insects, indicating that the Silky Anteater does not possess either chitinase

Chitinase

Chitinases are digestive enzymes that break down glycosidic bonds in chitin. Because chitin composes the cell walls of fungi and exoskeleton elements of some animals , chitinases are generally found in organisms that either need to reshape their own chitin or to dissolve and digest the chitin of fungi or animals....
or chitobiase, digestive enzymes found in insectivorous bats.

It is a solitary animal and gives birth to a single young that is usually placed inside a nest of dead leaves built in tree holes.

Some authors suggest that the Silky Anteater usually dwells in silk cotton trees

Bombacaceae

The name Bombacaceae is a botanical name at the rank of family, which is now widely considered obsolete. As is true for any botanical name, circumscription and status of the taxon has varied with taxonomic point of view....
(genus

Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
Ceiba
Ceiba

Ceiba is the name of a genus of many species of large trees found in tropical areas, including Mexico, Central America and South America, The Bahamas, Belize and the Caribbean, West Africa, and Southeast Asia....
). Because of its resemblance to the seed pod fibers of these trees, it can use the trees as camouflage and avoid attacks of predators such as hawks and, especially, harpy eagles. During the day they typically sleep curled up in a ball. Although they are rarely seen in the forest, it is said that they can be found more easily when they are foraging on liana

Liana

The liana is any of various long-stemmed, usually woody vines that are rooted in the soil at ground level and use trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy in order to get access to well-lit areas of the forest....
s at night.

When threatened, the Silky Anteater, like other anteaters, defends itself by standing on its hind legs and holding its forefeet close to its face so it can strike any animal that tries to get close with its sharp claws.

External links

Photos of Silky Anteaters on the Web: , ,
Map of Silky anteater's range (Natureserve.org)]