World Anteater Day Date in the current year: November 19, 2024

Anteaters are four extant species of mammals that make up the suborder Vermilingua of the order Pilosa, which also includes sloths. They are the giant anteater, the silky anteater, the southern tamandua, and the northern tamandua. Sometimes the name “anteater” is colloquially applied to other species that are not closely related to true anteaters, such as aardvarks, echidnas, numbats, and pangolins.

Anteaters are endemic to the Americas, where they are found primarily in Central and South America, as well as southern Mexico and parts of the Caribbean. They are mostly solitary animals whose habitats include savannas, grasslands, rainforests, and dry tropical forests. Silky anteaters are thought to be completely arboreal, tamanduas feed both in trees and on the ground, and the giant anteater is almost entirely terrestrial.

Anteaters are instantly recognizable by their extremely long snouts and thin, long tongues. Anteaters’ tongues are covered with thousands of tiny hooks and coated with sticky saliva, allowing them to lick up large quantities of insects as quickly as possible. Each day, these animals consume thousands of insects, mainly ants and termites, to satisfy their caloric needs. Anteaters have an excellent sense of smell and good hearing, but poor eyesight.

The silky anteater and both species of tamandua are listed as lest concern species by International Union for Conservation of Nature, while the giant anteater is listed as vulnerable. The main threats faced by the giant anteater include habitat loss and degradation, vulnerability to wildfires, dog attacks, collision with vehicles, hunting, and illegal wildlife trade.

World Anteater Day was created in 2014 by the Brazilian environmental NGOs Instituto Tamanduá and Instituto Jurumi, which work to educate the general public about anteaters and promote their conservation. The holiday is sometimes called World Tamandua Day because in Portuguese, all anteater species are referred to as tamanduá. It was created to raise awareness of the challenges anteaters face in the wild and to highlight the importance of conservation efforts.

World Anteater Day events are organized by zoos, educational institutions, governmental and private organizations, NGOs, and other stakeholders around the world. They include lectures, talks, special activities for children, contests and competitions, social media campaigns, fundraisers for conservation organizations, and more.

There are many ways to get involved with World Anteater Day. You can learn interesting facts about anteaters and share them with others, check out anteaters at your local zoo or watch anteater videos and documentaries, symbolically adopt an anteater, donate to a conservation organization of your choice, and post about the holiday on social media using the hashtags #TamanduaDay, #WorldTamanduaDay, and #WorldAnteaterDay.