To be a tamandua: A type of anteater, the tamandua (pronounced tuh MAN doo wah) is often called a lesser anteater because it is much smaller than its relative, the giant anteater. This interesting mammal is at home both in trees and on the ground. The tamandua is most active at night, often nesting during the day in hollow tree trunks.

Tamanduas are nocturnal, active at night and secreting away in hollow tree trunks and burrows abandoned by other animals during daylight hours. They can spend more than half of their time in the treetops, as much as 64%, where they forage for arboreal ants and termites.

The Southern tamandua is a solitary animal, foraging in trees. According to a study, conducted in Venezuela, the Southern tamanduas, living in different habitat, spend 13 - 64% of their time in trees.

The southern tamandua (Tamandua tetradactyla), also called the collared anteater or lesser anteater, is a species of anteater from South America and the island of Trinidad in the Caribbean. It is a solitary animal found in many habitats, from mature to highly disturbed secondary forests and arid savannas. It feeds on ants, termites, and bees.

If at­tacked on the ground, this anteater backs up against a rock or a tree and grabs the op­po­nent with its fore­arms. In the rain­for­est the south­ern taman­dua is sur­rounded dur­ing the day by a cloud of flies and mos­qui­toes and is often seen wip­ing these in­sects from its eyes.

The Tamandua tetradactyla is capable of both digging and climbing and spend most of their time in trees (Shabel and Reference, 2011). A Venezuelan study done showed that 13-64% of their time awake is spent in trees (Gorog, 1999).

A menace to ants and termites of South America, the Southern Tamandua is a creature of both land and trees that survives by eating over 9000 insects every day. With its long snout that hides even a longer cylindrical tongue covered in gooey and sticky saliva, this anteater gobbles up insects by breaking open their nests both in trees and on land.

Tamanduas use their sharp claws and prehensile tails to climb trees and hold onto branches in pursuit of ants, termites, bees, and even honey. Using their sense of smell, they seek out the less aggressive tree termites and avoid leaf-cutting and army ants who have chemical defenses.

This animal is both terrestrial and arboreal, meaning it dwells in trees and on land. The tamandua often builds its nest in hollow tree trunks during the day and is most active at night. Its eyes are small, which makes its vision poor, but what they lack in sight they make up for in …

Southern tamanduas feed primarily on ants and termites, which they locate by scent both on the ground and in trees. They may also feed on bees and honey.