This is one of those pictures where I always need to look twice: one or two?
Giant Anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) with less-giant anteater (but still quite impressively sized) in the Stuttgart zoo and botanical garden Wilhelma (another wiki article in serious need of fixing).
Oh my God! One of them is trying to kill the other anteater!!.. Wait, they’re doing what..? Ohhh..
isn’t that just a young one being carried by its mother? That dark patch on their forelimb always makes me “see” a smaller giant panda bending down to sniff the ground.
Yep, that’s the baby!
I wonder at the evolutionary origins of baby carrying in the giant anteater. Possibly similar to sloths and implied to be protective from predators, but very unusual and similar to orangutans and chimps who often carry their young during foraging. Intriguing.