Southern tamandua
Amazing fact
Southern tamanduas have no teeth, but muscles in the stomach help digest their food.
Smithsonian National Zoo
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An illustration based on the real animal.
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Southern tamanduas have no teeth, but muscles in the stomach help digest their food.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Southern tamandua
- Scientific name
- Tamandua tetradactyla
- Japanese name
- ミナミコアリクイ
- Group
- Land mammals
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Pilosa
- Family
- Myrmecophagidae
- Genus
- Tamandua
It lives from northern to central South America and spends most of its time in trees. In the daytime it sleeps in places such as tree hollows.
The underside of its tail has no fur, which helps it grip branches firmly as it moves through the trees.
It sniffs out termites that live in trees, as well as honey, and eats them with its long tongue.
How the Southern tamandua lives
They have also been observed being active during the day. They dig open insect nests with their forelimbs and claws. They walk on the outsides of their feet so their long, strong claws do not pierce their bodies. Outside breeding, they usually live alone.
Smithsonian National ZooBasic data
- Size
- 53.5–80 cmSmithsonian National Zoo
- Weight
- about 4.5 kgSmithsonian National Zoo
- Diet
- Arboreal ants and termites, honey, and beesSmithsonian National Zoo
- Range
- Northern to central South America埼玉県こども動物自然公園
Where the Southern tamandua has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- ミナミコアリクイ
- 简体中文
- 小食蚁兽
- 繁體中文
- 小食蟻獸
- 한국어
- 남부작은개미핥기
- Español
- Oso melero
- Français
- Fourmilier À Collier
- Deutsch
- Südlicher Tamandua
- Português (Brasil)
- Tamanduá-mirim
- Italiano
- Tamandua meridionale
- हिन्दी
- दक्षिणी तामान्दुआ
- العربية
- تمندوة جنوبية
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Tamandua selatan
- Русский
- Четырёхпалый муравьед
- Türkçe
- Küçük karıncayiyen
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 埼玉県こども動物自然公園 — ミナミコアリクイChecked: 2026-11-03
- Smithsonian National Zoo — Southern tamanduaChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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