It feeds primarily on ants and termites, using its fore claws to dig them up and its long, sticky tongue to collect them.

Though giant anteaters live in overlapping home ranges, they are mostly solitary except during mother-offspring relationships, aggressive interactions between males, and when mating.

Threats to its survival include habitat destruction, fire, and poaching for fur and bushmeat, although some anteaters inhabit protected areas.

With its distinctive appearance and habits, the anteater has been featured in pre-Columbian myths and folktales, as well as modern popular culture.

[7] Anteaters and sloths belong to order Pilosa and share superorder Xenarthra (cladogram below[8]) with the Cingulata (whose only extant members are armadillos).

Following the formation of the Isthmus of Panama about 3 Mya, anteaters of all three extant genera invaded Central America as part of the Great American Interchange.

[9] Bradypus Choloepus Cyclopes Tamandua Myrmecophaga Dasypus Priodontes Cabassous Tolypeutes Chaetophractus Euphractus Zaedyus The fossil record for anteaters is generally sparse.

[12] Another member of the genus Myrmecophaga has been recovered from the Montehermosan Monte Hermoso Formation in Argentina and was described by Kraglievitch in 1934 as Nunezia caroloameghinoi.

The transition to life on the ground could have been aided by the expansion of open habitats such as savanna in South America and the abundance of native colonial insects, such as termites, that provided a larger potential food source.

Both the giant anteater and the southern tamandua are well represented in the fossil record of the late Pleistocene and early Holocene.

The male's genitals are located within its body and upon closer examination, its urogenital opening is smaller and farther from the anus than the female's.

[6] As a "hook-and-pull" digger, the giant anteater has a large supraspinous fossa which gives the teres major more leverage—increasing the front limbs' pulling power—and the triceps muscle helps control the thickened middle digit.

[19] Xenarthrans in general tend to have lower metabolic rates than most other mammals, a trend thought to correlate with their dietary specializations and low mobility.

It relies on the rotation of the two halves of its lower jaw, held together by a ligament connecting the rami, to open and close its mouth.

[18] The giant anteater's stomach, similar to a bird's gizzard, has hardened folds to crush food, assisted by some sand and soil.

[17] The giant anteater is native to Central and South America; its known range stretches from Honduras to Bolivia and northern Argentina,[22] and fossil remains have been found as far north as northwestern Sonora, Mexico.

[9] It is largely absent from the Andes[6] and has been fully extirpated in Uruguay, Belize, El Salvador, and Guatemala, as well as in parts of Costa Rica, Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay.

[35] A 2020 study in the Brazilian cerrado found that road mortality can cut population growth by 50 percent at the local level.

One anteater was recorded sleeping flat on its side with the tail unfolded on a 17 °C (63 °F) morning; possibly to allow its body to absorb the sun's rays for warmth.

Males are more likely to engage in agonistic behaviors,[41] which start with the combatants approaching and circling each other while uttering a "harrr" noise.

In areas that experience regular flooding, like the Pantanal and the Venezuelan-Colombian Llanos, anteaters mainly feed on ants, which are more numerous.

[19] Conversely, termites are more numerous in the grasslands of Emas National Park and hence are a more important food source for anteaters there.

[14] After finding a nest, the animal tears it open with its claws and inserts its long, sticky tongue to collect its prey (which includes eggs, larvae and adult insects).

[54] In the mythology and folklore of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon Basin, the giant anteater is depicted as both a trickster and a comical figure due to its appearance.

In a Yarabara myth, the evil ogre Ucara is punished by the sun and turned into an anteater so he will have been unable to speak with his long snout and small mouth.

[55] The Kayapo people wear masks of various animals and spirits, including the anteater, during naming and initiation ceremonies.

It was popularly thought that there were only female anteaters and they reproduced with their noses, a misconception corrected by naturalist Félix de Azara.

[57] In the 20th century, Salvador Dalí wrote imaginatively that the giant anteater "reaches sizes bigger than the horse, possesses enormous ferocity, has exceptional muscle power, is a terrifying animal."

It was used as a bookplate for André Breton, who compared the temptations a man experiences in life to what "the tongue of the anteater must offer to the ant.

[60] In the Stephen King miniseries Kingdom Hospital, the character Antubis appears in the form of an anteater-like creature with razor-sharp teeth.