We Are Fanimaly- Anteater/Sloth

We Are Fanimaly- Anteater/Sloth

We are starting up a feature from the past this week! We’ll be post a segment we call     We Are Fanimaly once a month. This feature will spotlight animals that are related. Some of these you may know and some of them may surprise you! This month’s features our giant anteater from last week. 

Anteaters and sloths are relatives! Can you believe it? Our Giant Armadillo from a few days ago also belongs in their Fanimaly! They look nothing alike! Hehehehe!

• Their superorder is Xenartha.
• These animals only live in the Americas.
• They have been around for about 59 million years.
• Remember the Glyploton- the giant armadillo? Well there were giant ground sloths too!
• The name Xenarthra means “strange joints”.
• The name was chosen because anteaters, sloths and armadillos have vertebral joints unlike any other mammals on earth.
• Anteaters and sloths are more closely related to each other than their armadillo cousins.
• The animals in the Xenartha surperorder are either insectivores (anteaters & armadillos) or herbivores (sloth).
• There are 6 sloth species and four anteater species.