How I came to know a Silky Anteater

It's a Sloth, NO... It's a kinkaju, NO... IT IS an Anteater!!!!

I got a call the other day from a friend asking me if I knew how to care for or where to take a baby sloth that some friends of ours had found on the ground near their eco-lodge in the Sierpe Terraba Mangrove Forest (south Pacific). Now I have a special affinity for sloths (I fell in love with these beautiful animals after my first trip to Costa Rica) so I was very anxious to help. I immediately called my friends at the Sloth Rescue Center and got some pointers on basic sloth care and began preparing for the arrival of my little friend. I searched all over my tiny town for goat's milk and a bottle, which I eventually found. These items were meant to sustain the little guy (or girl) until I could get it to the Rescue Center.

The next morning, my friends called me to confirm the drop off and as they were telling me about the animal, I began to realize it was probably not a sloth! They said it had a pointy nose and four claws on the back legs... and unless this was a mutant, it was definitely not a sloth!

So they arrived via boat with the little fuzzy and oh so soft little animal fast asleep in a box.They warned me that it had very sharp claws. I immediately realized they were serious when it swatted me when I tried to wake it up to look at it. My first thought was that it was a kinkajou, but then someone suggested that it might be an anteater. So off I went to my house prepared to feed it goat's milk via syringe (no needle of course). It had a tiny little mouth, much smaller than the sloth mouth I was envisioning. It had not wanted to eat the night before when my friends tried to feed it milk. They said it kept turning its head and pushing away the 'bottle' ie. - syringe. Upon returning to my house, my boyfriend was able to identify it as a silky anteater (Cyclopes didactylus) or in Spanish, Serafin de Platanar.

While waiting on the docks that morning for the animal to arrive, someone told me about an animal refuge center nearby (about 1 hour) called Durika. The Sloth Rescue Center is located on the Caribbean side and about 8+ hours away, so this alternative seemed better. I called Durika, spoke with a very friendly and knowledgeable biologist and decided to take the anteater to them.

Located about one hour away, the Durika Refuge serves as a refuge for many endangered animals and plants, and they offer medical care to injured and abandoned animals.

Upon arrival, Eugenio greeted me and carefully picked up the anteater. It scratched him too, but then it quickly made itself at home on his arm and fell back to sleep on the best branch it had probably ever encountered - a warm and hairy! It turns out SHE is an almost full grown adult (no wonder why she did not want to drink the milk!) and seemed healthy upon first inspection. It was worry-some that she was found on the ground, so he agreed to monitor her for a few days and see how she did.

Silky Anteaters are nocturnal, solitary, arboreal animals and rarely descend to the ground. Because they are so small and live high up in the trees, they are not very commonly spotted.

Well the first night, she slept and slept and did not wake up much. She only ate a few termites and a little bit of hamburger Eugenio tried to feed her. She also slept thru the next day, but the next night... I'm told she had a pajama party! She was extremely active, climbing on everything and was actually quite aggressive with her keeper Eugenio. She hissed and peed on him!

So the next day, Eugenio called me and said she was apparently healthy and needed to be released into the wild and I could either come get her or they could release her into the forest at the refuge.

We all agreed it was best to release her as close as possible to where she originally came from so I drove back to the the refuge and picked her up, and of course, I had all the necessary permits from MINAE to carry a wild animal in my car.

She continued to sleep as if drugged on Dramamine, until about 6:30 pm when she crawled out of her box and inspected the bathroom where I had her safely stored until it was time to let her go. She quickly went back to sleep when i returned her to the box and at about 9pm, we took a boat to the other side of the river and walked into the forest, picked a tree not too wide in girth and put her on it. She immediately woke up and started climbing up , up up until she disappeared from our sight.

I later learned that silky anteaters leave scent trails to guide them to the termite and ant nests that they feed on so I was very regretful that I could not return her to the exact same forest location she was found. My friends were out of town and no one out there has a phone, so there was no one to call. At least she was returned to the same type of environment and forest. I sure hope she finds new food sources soon.

Check out this video of her release

I feel so lucky to have had such a close encounter with these elusive animals. Truly a beautiful learning experience for me.