The Silky Anteater: The Life of the Tiny, Nocturnal Tree-Dweller
Saturday, 28 June 2025
Down in the moist and wet tropical forests of Central and South America, something isn’t moving in the dense canopy cover. It is quite still, rolled in a tight ball, its head tucked under its arms and its partially prehensile tail wrapped around the branch upon which it lightly sleeps. This is the silky anteater – the smallest (and possibly the cutest – you be the judge) anteater species on the this, our ark in space.
The species has the skill of a contortionist and seems able to wrap its body into all sorts of positions in the pursuit of a peaceful day’s sleep. It is nocturnal, so in the day time it snoozes the hours away until the sun goes down and its time to feed again. Yet even though it only goes out at night, it isn’t exactly the lean and hungry type. Sometimes, only around 700 ants will be slurped up by its saliva-covered tongue, onto which the hapless Formicidae stick before being eaten alive.