Whilst trudging up through a beautiful tropical jungle on my way to the summit of a magnificent volcano, something scrabbling loudly amongst the branches caused me to glance upwards just in time to observe an assortment of woody debris falling to the forest floor- but, alas, not in time to get out of the way.

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Several of the more sizeable pieces impacted painfully with the top of my head!

Dusty particles invaded my eyes, filled my nose and entered my mouth, inducing
an uncontainable and energetic coughing fit. Adding insult to injury, little things
began to nip and bite at my face; they crawled down the back of my neck and one
or two ventured into my ears.

I rubbed at my eyes; in an attempt to dislodge the things clustered there and
finally, upon regaining my sight it became evident where the irritation originated.

A large amount of ants, all of which seemed rather upset, were crawling all over
me.

The situation caught me quite by surprise and it took a few moments more to gather
my wits about me and get out of the way as yet more pieces of tree and insects
rained down upon my shoulders. I retreated the few paces necessary to get clear
of the fallout zone and began to groom myself, picking off the ants one by one.

Once sure they had all been flicked away or mashed between finger and thumb,
I cautiously returned and peered up into the canopy shielding my eyes from further
bombardment.

Just a few meters up sat a rather peculiar creature, about the size of a domestic
cat. It was a furry little thing, coloured yellow about the body and patterned
black along its back and shoulders as if attired in a dapper waistcoat.

With bright intelligent eyes it peered down at me along an exceedingly lengthy
nose. Fuzzy rounded ears stuck out at right angles from a slender head. They twitched
back and forth rapidly like agitated radar.

It sniffed; a long and loud inhalation that did justice to such an outlandish
snout. It was checking me out.

Obviously, my presence was of no great concern, for it quickly returned to the
task at hand – ripping a dead branch asunder. Once again, woody rubble, laced
with angry ants plummeted downwards.

Its tail was long, pink and hairless. Utilised like a fifth limb, it was coiled
around the tree trunk, anchoring the creature firmly, preventing it from falling
to the floor. Its stocky forelimbs, equipped with scythe-like claws were free
to wreak havoc upon the plant life. It was obviously very strong indeed judging
by the damage being inflicted on the local flora.

Given time, the tree would likely recover, but the ants, whom up until this very
day had been cheerfully lodging inside the hollow branches were in mortal danger.
This rather odd looking creature is known as a Tamandua to some, but many of us
will know it by a more familiar name- The Anteater.

To the humble ant it is the grim reaper, their worst nightmare come true. A perfectly
adapted predator of tiny social insects, the Anteater will consume only ants and
nothing else. In fact, it is a physical impossibility for it to munch on anything
but.

There are three kinds of anteater in the new tropics, and although each one is
very different in appearance and size they all share a number of unique traits.

Amongst these are strong forelimbs, useful for digging out prey fortified within
underground nests or hidden inside trees, and very long snouts to probe deep down
into the insect colonies, but the most striking adaptation must surely be their
incredible tongue.

Built like a worm and at around forty inches long it is, without doubt, one of
the most outlandish organs in the natural world.

An anteater has a tiny little mouth, no wider than a pencil; after all, what’s
the point in a big maw if dainty food is all that is on the menu? They also have
no teeth, and their family name Edentata, literally translates as, toothless.

This eel like tongue is covered in little backwards pointed barbs, which are
in turn coated in very sticky saliva. They literally hook the ants out of the
nest at around 150 laps per minute. And at around 30,000 ants per day (the estimated
dietary intake) that’s one heck of a lot of licking.

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The huge snozzle is not only used to probe around into unsuspecting ant homes,
it is also awfully good at sniffing them out. There is no safe hiding place from
such a first-rate detection device, not even underground.

The largest of the three species is the Giant anteater or Ant bear. Weighing
in at around 39kg and measuring up to two meters long it truly is a beast deserving
of such a name. This shaggy oddity is unable to climb up trees and instead waddles
along on the ground.

It has an ungainly gait due to the fact that its claws are
so long and sharp it must walk on the sides of its hands to avoid puncturing its
palms. Unfortunately they are exceptionally rare in Costa Rica and you are unlikely
to see one.

The smallest species is called the Silky anteater and it truly is a dwarf at
only 15 inches tall and weighing just 300gms. Like the Antbear, they are very
hard to see, not since they are scarce, but because they never come down from
the upper canopy. They are also perfectly camouflaged to look just like cotton
tree seedpods.

The Tamandua however is quite easy to see and even easier to follow. Tree dwelling
and land loving, they are rather noisy and clumsy.Also a bit slow and apparently
negligent of any potential threats around them, one can get very close indeed
to a foraging Tamandua.

But don’t get too close. Collard anteaters can afford to be blas+¬ because those
long claws can inflict a great deal of damage on anything foolish enough to attack
them.

The Giant anteater has been known to eviscerate careless humans, and although
the Tamandua cannot lay claim to homicidal tendencies, it can nonetheless cause
some very serious gashes to a leg or arm. If it rears up on its hind legs and
spreads its arms open wide, consider this a stern warning and back off accordingly.

Here in Costa Rica the Tamandua is fairly common, but elsewhere it is hunted
for meat and the sinewy tendons in its tail, which apparently make strong rope.

In some cultures and regions, they are kept as household pets which earn their
keep by polishing off any ants that invade the home, although I cannot quiet see
how they would do this without pulling the walls down and trashing the ceiling.

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So, if you hear a very noisy animal crashing about the forest, sniffing and snuffling
with complete abandon, it is worth quietly going to investigate. You may be rewarded
an audience with one of Costa Rica’s most weird and wonderful residents, but beware,
there will most likely be lots of anguished ants running around in search of someone
to vent their anger at, and we humans make very convenient scapegoats indeed.

Dale Morris and his wife Sasha left Great Britain 11 years ago and he has written numerous articles about wild animals in Costa Rica since 1997. Dale works as a freelance nature writer and photographer and his work has been
published in BBC Wildlife, Geographical and Global Adventure and regularly contributes to ‘Costa Rica Outdoor’ Magazine and Asahi weekly in Japan.

Together, Dale and his wife have worked in Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Costa Rica and Scotland and have been attacked by mosquitoes, killer ants, monkeys, chimpanzees, jaguars, fish with sharp teeth, scorpions, bees, bears, giraffe, elephants and drunken Scotsmen during that time.

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