Bulletin From the Barn: June 15, 2009
Baby Anteater Update From Keeper Marie Magnuson
Everything is going smoothly at the anteater barn. Cyrano, now three months old, has been gaining weight at a nice even pace and weighs almost 17 pounds. He looks even larger because his fur is growing faster than the rest of him.
Baby anteaters are born covered with fur and have the markings of an adult, but the fur is very short compared with an adult's. And "fur" is a very misleading word in this case. The long hair that you see on the tail and along the spine (we call that the “crest”) is very similar to a horse's mane. On a baby it is a little softer, but still much coarser than the fur on your dog or cat. And unlike dogs and cats, anteaters have no soft undercoat to help keep them warm. One of the things that this coarse coat is very good for is shedding water, not only when it rains but when the anteaters bathe as well. That’s right, anteaters like to take baths!
Anteater Shower
Cyrano’s mother, Maripi, LOVES to bathe and it is a big treat for her when we give her a shower in the barn. Cyrano clings to her back as she sits in her big plastic tub and we gently spray her with lukewarm water. She uses her back feet to scrub the front of her body and her front feet to clean the back parts. Dante, Cyrano's father, likes to sit and soak, but doesn’t enjoy the shower as much as Maripi. We will have to wait and see if Cyrano prefers showers or baths. 
See the photos and video below.
The Dismount
Cyrano has been spending plenty of time on the ground and getting lots of exercise. He usually stays close to mom, but they have been seen on opposite sides of the yard as well. If Cyrano gets lazy and tries to spend too much time on his mother’s back, Maripi simply lies down. That makes it pretty much impossible to stay aboard! Cyrano isn’t very good at his dismount yet and usually waits for Maripi to lie down to get off. I think he could get off if he tried but he doesn’t believe it yet. We see him wiggling around on her back as though he would like to slide down and he almost does it but then he chickens out.
This morning while Maripi was standing and eating her breakfast Cyrano tried to lean over and claw at a log from atop her back. He lost his grip and fell off! Once on the ground, he was happy to be there and did not attempt to climb up again. He has been honing his anteater skills of digging in the dirt and ripping apart logs. I’m sure that his dismount skills will catch up.
Graduating to Solids
We still have not seen Cyrano eating out of his mother’s dish, but we have seen Maripi push him away when he tries to nurse sometimes. She is an experienced mother and will wean him when she knows it is time. He will learn about what food is supposed to taste like by licking her nose so we are keeping a sharp eye out for any signs of dried anteater chow on his snout. I wonder if he will love peanut butter as much as his mother, or be more of a mango man like his father.
