Larger Than Life? Body Mass Records of Zoo-Managed Giant Anteaters (Myrmecophaga tridactyla).

ABSTRACT: It has been suggested repeatedly that zoo-kept giant anteaters (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) have higher body masses than their free-ranging conspecifics. Here, we assess this hypothesis by comparing body mass data of 184 female and 173 male individuals kept in zoos to published and unpublished data of free-ranging animals (n = 215). In zoos, the average adult body mass of all individuals was 45.9 ± 9.6 kg (range 19.2-72.6 kg), whereas body mass for free-ranging specimens was 33.0 ± 2.3 kg (21-45.5 kg). Among those zoo animals in which a sufficient number of subsequent intra-annual measures had been taken, we assessed visually whether regular, annual fluctuations in body mass were evident. We observed regular, likely seasonal, cycles in body mass, which (i) may be plausibly attributed to ambie

SUBMITTER: Garand E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11624626 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov-Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature