Anteaters are so named because they eat white termites. Few people realize that anteaters have no teeth. Their jawbones protrude and are almost entirely covered with skin, making their oral cavities very small. An anteater's tongue, covered with adhesive saliva to hold termites on touch, can be extended a long way beyond its mouth. Then the animal draws it back and swallows. Although some termites build sizable mud nests, the anteater's powerful front paws have lengthy claws that can tear open the termites' nests, either on the ground or in trees.
The claws on anteaters' front legs are so long that the animals walk on the outer edges of their feet rather than on the soles. The longest claw folds back into a skin pouch in the sole of foot. The solitary Tamandua anteater utilizes its prehensile tail as an arm to grasp a tree branch and lift itself as high as the tree crown. This physical characteristic enables the Tamandua anteater