Distribution and Status
The giant anteater is native to Central and South America. Its known range stretches from Honduras to northern Argentina, and fossil remains have been found as far north as northwestern Sonora, Mexico. It is largely absent from the Andes and is extinct in Uruguay. It may also be extinct in Belize, Costa Rica and Guatemala. The species can be found in a number of habitats including both tropical rainforests and xeric shrublands, provided enough prey is present to sustain it.
The species is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN, due to the number of regional extirpations, and under Appendix II by CITES, tightly restricting trade in specimens of the animal. Between 2000 and 2010 the total population declined by 30 percent. In 1994 some 340 anteaters died due to wildfires at Emas National Park in Brazil. The animal is particularly vulnerable to fires due to its slow movement and flammable coat.
Human-induced threats include collision with vehicles, attacks by dogs and habitat destruction. The anteater is commonly hunted in Bolivia, both for sport and sustenance. The animal's thick, leathery hide is used to make equestrian equipment in Chaco. In Venezuela, it is hunted for its claws. Anteaters are killed for safety reasons, due to their reputation as a dangerous animal. In reality, anteaters are typically placid and pose no threat to humans. However, in April 2007, an anteater at the Florencio Varela Zoo near Buenos Aires mauled zookeeper Melisa Casco, slashing her abdomen and legs with its front claws. She died following leg amputation surgery. The giant anteater remains widespread. Some populations are stable and the animal can be found in various protected areas in the Amazon and the Cerrado. It is officially protected in some Argentine provinces as a national heritage species.
Read more about this topic: Giant Anteater
Famous quotes containing the words distribution and/or status:
“The man who pretends that the distribution of income in this country reflects the distribution of ability or character is an ignoramus. The man who says that it could by any possible political device be made to do so is an unpractical visionary. But the man who says that it ought to do so is something worse than an ignoramous and more disastrous than a visionary: he is, in the profoundest Scriptural sense of the word, a fool.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“Anthropologists have found that around the world whatever is considered “men’s work” is almost universally given higher status than “women’s work.” If in one culture it is men who build houses and women who make baskets, then that culture will see house-building as more important. In another culture, perhaps right next door, the reverse may be true, and basket- weaving will have higher social status than house-building.”
—Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen. Excerpted from, Gender Grace: Love, Work, and Parenting in a Changing World (1990)