Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Map of Brazil and environs
“Look for an overripe, black banana moving through the grass.” Edson Endrigo, our nature
guide extraordinaire, was explaining his technique for spotting giant anteaters in Serra da Ca-
nastra National Park, just one of the rarities in this area. Obediently looking up on the hill-
side, I spotted a two-meter-long mobile banana. We jumped out of the van and circled behind
a female anteater with a baby clinging to her back. My two companions, David Wilcove and
John Morrison, and I closely tracked her progress.
If the greater one-horned rhino seems odd and prehistoric, the giant anteater offers good
company as one of the most peculiarlooking mammals on the planet. Both are ranked as
threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The
tamanduá-bandeira
, or
papa-
formigas
, as it is known in Brazil, cuts a comical figure, sporting an elongate, arching snout
and bowlegged limbs, all ending in an immense shaggy tail. The rest of the body is shaggy,
too, featuring a striking long pelage of dark bands on light. The female in front of us moved
along like an animated throw rug.
An anteater walks on thickened pads on the outsides of its paws, as its digits are turned
under its feet. An observer might think of this awkward creature, with its poor eyesight, bad
