6 Animals That Feed On Ants That You Did Not Know
There are many insectivorous animals on our planet and within this group some are more selective than others with their diet. In this case, we are going to present some animals that feed on ants, or otherwise called myrmecophagous living beings.
It’s not just the anteater that is known to eat ants. Many more animals, from insects to other mammals — like the fascinating numbat — can feed on these invertebrates. How many of them can you name?
What is myrmecophagia?
Myrmecophagia means to eat ants, although this term is also extended to termite-eating animals. Many different living beings fall into this category, some with more general diets, others more specific, but we can find insects, birds, reptiles, amphibians and, of course, mammals.
All these animals have different adaptations – specialized appendices, hunting strategies and immunity to toxins, among others – that allow them to easily acquire and digest ants.
Insects and spiders that feed on ants
Here are some species that base their diet on the consumption of ants. Do not miss it.
Ants
If we classify ants by their food preferences, we find: omnivorous, mycophagous or fungal cultivators, granivores and predators. Many ants are predators, some species are even used as pest controllers for other insects, including termites.
Spiders
Some species of spiders are very specialized in hunting ants. Among the jumping spiders that carry out this vital strategy we can find species such as Anasaitis canosa, which develops a very special technique to hunt ants.
When locating prey, this arachnid aligns its entire body so that it is looking directly at the ant. She then moves in an arc until the ant is in front of her.
Once aligned, the spider jumps up and stings the ant on the back of the head or thorax. Although these types of arachnids also feed on other insects, eating ants has several advantages: they are numerous and there is little competition from other predators.
Birds that eat ants
Ants are part of the diet of many passerine birds. For some species, it is one more food that they usually include in their diet. On the other hand, others follow a strict diet of ants and there are even groups of birds that are helped by the presence of ants to devour the insects that flee from them.
Some of these examples are found in anteaters, turdids, flycatchers, cardinals, cuckoos, breed them, some climbing birds and many other examples.
What you will not believe is that there are also birds that use ants to extract the formic acid they contain. After that, they rub it by their feathers and it acts as a natural insecticide, fungicide, bactericide and tick.
Ant-eating reptiles and amphibians
The diet of many amphibians and reptiles includes ants, among them we find lizards, lizards, frogs, toads and many other herpetos. These insects are easy to hunt, something very positive for some frogs and toads, slow and clumsy vertebrates.
Horned lizards are one of the great eaters of ants. In the wild they are found in the vicinity of the ant hills where they capture the ants that pass by. They are usually covered in sand, leaving only their head exposed, which allows them to hide from potential predators and wait for their prey.
Myrmecophagous mammals
Among mammals, myrmecophagous species have developed a number of adaptations specialized in capturing ants and termites. Among them, we find the following:
- Muzzle very elongated.
- Cylindrical, thin and sticky tongue with large salivary glands.
- They do not have teeth, as their diet is based on soft prey.
- Strong claws, with which they dig in anthill and termite mounds.
The numbat
The numbat is one of the mammals that feed on ants. It is a species of marsupial of the Myrmecobiidae family , which is only found in some areas of the Australian continent. In addition, it is considered a threatened animal according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
This mammal feeds almost exclusively on termites, which it hunts through logs or underground tunnels that it bursts with its long, sticky tongue. This type of diet requires a high degree of specialization.
The anteater
The anteater lives in Central and South America and there are only two families within its taxon. Both have a long tongue that can reach 60 centimeters, with which they feed on ant hills and termite mounds. Despite their name, they have nothing to do with bears.
This mammal is capable of swallowing about 35,000 ants every day, thanks to the rapid movements of its specialized tongue. Bears stick their tongues out and into a single anthill up to 160 times per minute to counter painful ant stings.
As you may have seen, there are many animals that feed on ants, although very few have specialized exclusively in their consumption. In nature, the use of resources reigns above all else.
