The tamandua looks like it was assembled from spare parts: a long tube of a nose, a stiff brush of a tail it climbs with, and a cream coat with a black vest pulled over it. It moves like it has all day, because it does.
Where you’ll see it
Dry forest, gardens with big trees, and roads at dawn and dusk. Look for the torn-open termite nests on trunks and branches, which are its work.
What to know
It has no teeth and a tongue like a strand of spaghetti, and it lives on ants and termites ripped open with heavy front claws. Those claws are its only defence. Threatened, it stands up on its hind legs with arms out, and that is a very good moment to back off. Left alone it is entirely peaceable. Drive slowly on back roads at first light; they do not hurry.
