a very handsome anteater

I'm always looking for original anteater artwork, but I must say I'm pretty picky about it. So I was delighted to find this handsome anteater drawn by Berkley Illustration, which is based in Portland, Oregon. If you check out their whimsical blog, you'll find that Berkley's most recent drawing collection includes a veritable zoo of anthropomorphized animals—and wow, are they pretty. Aside from the giant anteater, who looks absolutely fetching in his red jacket and bow tie, I especially had to smile at their sloth (voted "most athletic" on a magnet) and their resident flying meerkat.

If you'd like to purchase an anteater print like the one above, or browse through the rest of Berkley Illustrations' recent creations, you can do so on their Etsy store, which is chock full of goodies. Prints come in various sizes and are very reasonably priced! Kudos to the Berkley crew for their marvelous work. •>~

seeking snout sleuths!

Have you seen this anteater's snout? It belongs to a sculpture on the famous Animal Wall at Cardiff Castle in Wales, U.K. The crouching anteater was built back in 1931, and its nose has been missing for more than a decade. Local officials would like to finally replace the snout, but no one has any record of what the anteater looked like before its snout came off! Have you got an old picture of this fellow with his nose still intact? If so, leave a comment! •>~

Update: Good news: A local man who had taken some pictures of the anteater sculpture back in the early 1990s has emerged! No photos have been released to the public yet, but it sounds like the restoration to the anteater can now proceed as scheduled.

adolpho, the cuddler

Okay, this is probably the cutest thing I've ever seen when it comes to giant anteaters. Adorable!! This little guy's name is Adolpho, and he lives at the Berlin Zoo.



Incidentally, I should mention that although giant anteaters are generally docile animals, they can be very dangerous—and even deadly—because of their very long and very sharp claws. As a result, giant anteaters are not kept as pets. (If you've seen an anteater dressed in human clothes and kept as a pet, that's probably one of the much smaller tamandua anteaters owned by Tamandua Girl.) The giant anteater here, Adolpho, was still only a few months old when this video was made. But as cute as he is, just know that you can't go out and buy these guys as pets. Anyway, if you'd like to see more, here is a photo gallery of Adolpho as a youngster! •>~

fun threadless tee

This cute t-shirt design caught my eye, so I thought I'd share! If you are not familiar with Threadless.com, they give graphic artists a platform to exhibit and get feedback on pieces that they'd like to sell on t-shirts. The result is a lot of very creative shirt ideas! If enough people vote on a design, the good people at Threadless print a bunch and then the public can purchase them. I voted on this one, called "Anthill trap," and it was eventually made into a t-shirt. Awesome! •>~

meet cyrano

On March 12th, a new baby anteater was born at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.! This was only the second giant anteater birth in the zoo's history. Shortly after mom Maripi and the baby had time to bond, zoo biologists were able to get close enough to determine that the little one was a boy! He was named Cyrano after the famed literary character Cyrano de Bergerac, who has a very, very long nose! Cyrano has grown quite steadily in the few months of his young life. Baby giant anteaters spend lots of time riding around on their mom's back, and little Cyrano seems to have gotten the hang of it pretty quickly. Below, National Zoo biologist Marie Magnuson talks about the zoo's newest resident! •>~

we begin!

Welcome to the new Online Anteater blog. This blog will be a companion to The Online Anteater, an educational website about giant anteaters. Web technology has changed a lot in the years since I first started The Online Anteater, and it's been great seeing how the site's usership has grown over time. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to update the site and add new features as often as I'd have liked, so this blog will offer more immediate news and features on that lovable creature, Myrmecophaga tridactyla. Check back here for regular updates on cute anteater babies, videos, and other news. Please leave comments if you'd like to share something with the rest of the anteater-loving community! •>~