A Day in the Life of Antonio the Anteater

Bom dia Earth Cubs! My name is Antonio the Anteater and it’s lovely to meet you. Come and join me for a day of fun in the rainforest.

I’m a giant anteater and when I stand up on my hind legs I’m actually taller than your mum and dad! My cousins are the silky anteater, who is a lot smaller than me, and the Northern and Southern Tamandua. Our family is called the Vermilirgua which means worm tongue and we’ve been around for over 25 million years!

I’m feeling a bit peckish, come along with me to my favourite spot for breakfast. I can’t see so well and there are no Specsavers in the rainforest but my nose will help. It works 40 times better than yours! My paws are tipped with large claws which are very long and sharp, and I have to walk on my knuckles so I don’t hurt myself. There aren’t many plasters around here!

We’ve arrived at the hottest gaff in the area; RestaurANT. They know me pretty well here and have saved me the best spot. Come and pull up a stool whilst I use my sharp claws to dig into the ant mount. Unlike you, I don’t have any teeth at all! I’ve got a very long tongue and some super sticky saliva allowing maximum bug catching! My tongue moves very fast, more than twice a second so I can get all the bugs in my mouth quickly.

I really really like my food, ants are so yummy. I can get through around 35,000 of them a day! That’s over a million a month! But the big soldier ants will come out and tell me off if I feed for longer than a minute. They give me a little nip to let me know I have to stop. Luckily, I have thick fur to help protect me. I managed to get thousands of ants in my tummy before I had to stop. I have a hard plate in my mouth where I crush the insects into a tasty insect paste before it goes into my tummy. I don’t get ill often as I’m full of ant-bodies.

I really really like my food, ants are so yummy. I can get through around 35,000 of them a day! That’s over a million a month!

Now it’s time for my daily exercise regime. I’d love to be a triathlete but I can’t ride my bicycle through the rainforest and they don’t make bike helmets in my size. However, I’m an excellent runner, I could actually beat Usain Bolt in a race as my top speed is 31 mph. I love swimming too. I use my nose as a snorkel and can swim for miles.

It’s getting very hot out here today. I quite fancy a little nap. My large bushy tail is very helpful as it can act as a sunshade to keep me cool and at night-time it can keep me warm. Bet you wish you had a fancy tail like mine!

Let’s go visit my friend the Word Jaguar who can teach you all about literacy. If you want to see some more of him you can download our free kids' app. He’s a special jaguar as usually jaguars aren’t my friends. They sometimes try and have a fight with me, but I can stand up on my hindlegs and use my claws to defend myself.

Sadly, there aren’t many of us anteaters left now in the wild. That’s because humans keep cutting trees down and destroying where we live. They want more land for cows that get made into beef burgers and more land for the food that feeds the cows. I wish people would eat a bit less meat.

Hope you enjoyed your day in the rainforest with me! Come and visit me and my friends by downloading the Earth Cubs app. There are lots of bananas to collect and lots of games to play! Tell your parents that I have lots of learning packs here so you can learn more about the rainforest at home. You can also tell your teachers all about Earth Cubs and the free teaching resources we have on our website.

Finally, check me out here, I have my own video!