While Florida is home to a wide range of diverse and exotic wildlife, few would expect to see an anteater-like creature hailing from another continent wandering the street — however, that’s exactly what’s happening in central Florida tonight.
According to a post from Chris Gillette — also known as “Crocodile Chris” for his underwater and swimming with alligators photography, as well as his wildlife rescue and conservation efforts — a concerned citizen reported a sighting of what appeared to be a baby anteater roaming their neighborhood near a wooded area at the intersection of SW 148th Place and SW 35th Circle in Ocala. Gathering his team, Gillette set off approximately an hour south in an attempt to rescue it.
After reviewing the concerned citizen’s shared image, Gillette identified the loose animal as a tamandua, an arboreal relative of the anteater. The tamandua shares a similar diet to its anteater cousins, feeding on ants, termites, honey, and bees.
Tamanduas are not native to the Sunshine State, hailing from much warmer tropical climates across the south. Their typical habitats are located in forests, savannas, tropical rainforests, scrub forests, and mangroves near river runs across Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, French Guiana, Brazil, and Paraguy; however, some species are known to inhabit parts of Uruguay, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela as well.