Giant anteater
Amazing fact
Giant anteaters can identify ant or termite species by smell before breaking open a nest.
Smithsonian National Zoo
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An illustration based on the real animal.
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Giant anteaters can identify ant or termite species by smell before breaking open a nest.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Giant anteater
- Scientific name
- Myrmecophaga tridactyla
- Japanese name
- オオアリクイ
- Group
- Land mammals
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Pilosa
- Family
- Myrmecophagidae
- Genus
- Myrmecophaga
It lives in forests and grasslands of Central and South America, living alone rather than in groups.
It has no teeth. It breaks open ant nests with the big claws on its front feet and licks up termites and other insects with its long, thin tongue.
To protect the sharp claws on its front feet, it tucks them inward and walks on its knuckles.
How the Giant anteater lives
They are more likely to be nocturnal in areas with more people. They sleep in ground depressions or dense vegetation, among other places. Young ride on their mother’s back.
Smithsonian National ZooUniversity of Michigan Animal Diversity Web日本平動物園Basic data
- Size
- Head and body length: 1–1.3 m
- Weight
- 30–50 kg
- Lifespan
- up to 31 years in captivity
- Diet
- Termites, ants, and insect larvae
- Range
- Central and South America
Where the Giant anteater 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
- オオアリクイ
- 简体中文
- 大食蚁兽
- 繁體中文
- 大食蟻獸
- 한국어
- 큰개미핥기
- Español
- Yurumí
- Français
- Tamanoir
- Deutsch
- Großer Ameisenbär
- Português (Brasil)
- Tamanduá-bandeira
- Italiano
- Formichiere gigante
- हिन्दी
- विशाल चींटीखोर
- العربية
- آكِلُ النَّمْلِ العِمْلاقُ
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Pemakan semut raksasa
- Tiếng Việt
- Thú ăn kiến khổng lồ
- Русский
- Гигантский муравьед
- Türkçe
- Dev karıncayiyen
- বাংলা
- বৃহঠ পিঁপড়াভুক
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 日本平動物園 — オオアリクイChecked: 2026-11-03
- Smithsonian National Zoo — Giant anteaterChecked: 2026-11-03
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Myrmecophaga tridactylaChecked: 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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