The San Francisco Zoo has sent out a "photo release" announcing that it is the proud captor (well you know what I mean) of this baby giant anteater. (Click on the photo for a larger look.)
The zoo says the following about anteaters:
Adult anteaters are approximately eight feet long, not including their long, bushy tail. They have slender heads, and are most known for their lengthy, rapidly-moving tongue which is covered with sticky saliva. In the wild, an anteater will claw open an ant mound and feast on approximately 30,000 ants a day. They are capable of flicking their flexible tongue 150 times a minute to capture a mouthful of ants.
Thirty thousand ants a day is a lot, maybe even enough to scarf up about half the daily flow in some San Francisco apartments I've lived in. But I wonder if the baby giant anteater qualifies for Cute Overload. Oh there, now I've done it. I've linked to Cute Overload. Check out this little guy! And this one! And this one! (Okay, maybe not that last one. The world of humans intrudes...)
Update Jan 7: Man, we are all over this baby giant anteater story. Yesterday, KQED's Tara Siler spoke to a spokeswoman for the zoo about the animal, plus a new hippo that will be on view for the first time today.
Tara Siler speaks to Lora LaMarca of San Francisco Zoo about the new anteater
