While some animals feast on plants and other creatures, there are some that mainly feed on insects as their staple food.
For these animals, eating insects, which is also known as entomophagy, comes as part of their common meals.
Insect-Eating Animals
Giant Anteater
This huge insectivore can be found across South and Central America. While its name already speaks for itself, this animal can also consume termites.
Giant anteaters have a tube-like snout that hides a spiny and sticky tongue that could span up to two feet in length. They make use of their tongues to probe into colonies of ants and termites and lap the insects present.
However, the first thing it does is to tear these nests using its strong front claws.
Because giant anteaters do not produce acid in the stomach, they mainly use grit and its hard stomach folds for digestion.
Northern Naked Tailed Armadillo
Found in the grasslands and forests of northern South America and Central America, these little armadillos make use of the big middle claw on their front feet to open up mounds of termites and ants.
Similar to anteaters, armadillos place their sticky and long tongue inside and lap the insects.
These creatures also have big appetites, requiring them sustenance from a steady insect nutrition source. Hence, they typically twist their bodies in order to drive these claws into the ground, allowing them to find termites and ants to feast on.
Pangolin
Though pangolins are quite similar to anteaters and armadillos, they are not related. These toothless creatures use their tongues to gather termites, ants, and larvae.
The tongue of a pangolin can span up to 16 inches in length, with a width of 0.5 inches. It is rooted in its sternum.
Pangolins are known to be coated with horned sharp scales, which they lose and replace every now and then.
Mauritian Tomb Bat
The Mauritian tomb bat can be spotted across Central Africa's coasts. It has gray and grizzled fur and spans around 2.25 to 3.5 inches in length.
It is known to be a moth hunter during the night.
Though these creatures would rather rest during the day, they may consume butterflies, termites, and mosquitoes if they hunt in daylight. This makes the bug welcome in areas where people are at risk for malaria and where buildings are susceptible to termite damage.
Numbat
While numbats have 52 teeth, they do not really use them for chewing termites, which are their favorite meals. Similar to the armadillo, anteater, and pangolin, this creature also has a sticky and long tongue that it may insert in nests.
Its soft palate's ridges scrape insects off its tongue before the creatures get swallowed.
This creature is considered a marsupial with exemplary vision. It has the appearance of a squirrel with a pointed and long snout.
The numbat has also been classified as an endangered species. It can only be spotted in Western Australia.
Check out more news and information on Animals in Science Times.
