Panama has some spectacular mammals. You can encounter monkeys swinging through the canopy, sloths hanging motionless from branches and enormous anteaters walking through the forest. But there is another anteater in Panama that is so small, secretive and unusual that many people never realize it is there at all: the silky anteater.
The silky anteater looks almost like someone took a regular anteater, shrank it to the size of a small stuffed animal and gave it an extraordinarily soft coat. It is the smallest group of living anteaters, with adults generally measuring only around 15 to 35 centimetres and rarely weighing more than about 400 grams.
And unlike the giant anteater that spends much of its time walking around on the ground, the silky anteater is essentially a creature of the trees. It is nocturnal and arboreal, spending its life moving through branches after dark. That combination of tiny size, nighttime activity and life high above the forest floor makes it one of Panama's genuine wildlife mysteries.
Panama's little tree dwelling anteater
The species found in Panama is generally referred to as the Central American silky anteater, Cyclopes dorsalis. Modern taxonomy has changed our understanding of these animals considerably. What was once commonly treated as one widespread silky anteater species has been divided into several species based on genetic, morphological and geographic evidence. The Central American species Cyclopes dorsalis is recognized across Panama and several other countries of Central America and northern South America.
This taxonomic detective work is important because it means that some older books and websites may simply call a Panamanian silky anteater Cyclopes didactylus. Modern references distinguish the Central American animal as Cyclopes dorsalis.
So when you're reading an older wildlife guide and see a slightly different scientific name, don't immediately assume someone has made a mistake. The taxonomy of silky anteaters has been revised substantially.
It really is an anteater
Despite its tiny size, this animal is a genuine anteater.
It belongs to the order Pilosa, the same larger evolutionary group that contains the other living anteaters and sloths, and its specialized anatomy is built around eating insects. Its snout is elongated, its mouth is adapted for extracting tiny prey and its tongue is extremely important for feeding.
Instead of chasing large prey, it searches through the forest for tiny colonies of insects.
Ants are particularly important. Information from the Central American silky anteater specialist group describes it as an opportunistic insectivore believed to feed mainly on ants.
Other sources on silky anteaters more broadly document feeding on ants and termites, with occasional consumption of other insects.
This makes the animal something of a miniature pest control specialist wandering through Panama's forests at night.
The tail is one of its greatest tools
One of the most extraordinary features of the silky anteater is its prehensile tail.
It can wrap that tail around branches and use it as an additional point of support while moving through the canopy. Combined with its grasping feet and claws, this allows the animal to navigate thin branches where a larger mammal would struggle.
The tail is particularly important because the silky anteater is so small. Rather than climbing around like a heavy terrestrial mammal, it can move along branches and vines with a much more delicate touch.
Its forefeet are especially unusual. The genus Cyclopes is characterized by the reduction of the front toes to two functional digits, equipped with claws that help the animal grip branches and defend itself.
Imagine finding something that looks like a tiny golden ball of fur hanging from a branch, only to discover that it has enormous claws and a tail wrapped securely around the tree.
Why is it so difficult to see?
This is perhaps the most fascinating thing about silky anteaters in Panama.
They are not necessarily rare everywhere they occur. They are simply extremely easy to overlook.
First, they're nocturnal. During the day they aren't wandering around looking for tourists.
Second, they're arboreal. Looking down at the forest floor isn't going to help you.
Third, they're small.
And fourth, their colouring can blend surprisingly well with the vegetation around them.
A person can walk beneath one without ever knowing it is there.
Silky anteaters are also slow moving. They don't behave like monkeys, which constantly announce their presence by jumping between branches and making noise. A silky anteater can quietly work its way along a branch in the darkness, stopping to investigate an insect nest, and remain completely unnoticed.
That makes finding one in Panama a genuine wildlife achievement.
They live in some remarkable places
The Central American silky anteater is associated with tropical forests and also occurs in mangrove environments. The specialist group specifically notes both mangroves and tropical forests as habitat.
One of the best known research locations for the species is Barro Colorado Island, in the Panama Canal watershed.
Researchers studying silky anteaters there discovered just how much space even these tiny mammals can use. One male had a recorded home range of about 11 hectares, while the average home range of four females was approximately 2.9 hectares.
That is a remarkable amount of forest for such a tiny animal.
It also illustrates why finding one isn't simply a matter of looking at every tree in a small area. A silky anteater may be using a surprisingly large portion of the forest.
The Panama connection goes back a long way
Silky anteaters have been known scientifically from Panama for generations. Early mammal surveys documented Cyclopes in the country and described their distinctive silky coats, tiny forefeet and prehensile tails.
But modern researchers have discovered that there is still a lot to learn about them.
That is one of the recurring themes of tropical biology in Panama. The country is relatively small, but it sits at a biological crossroads connecting North and South America. Its forests, mountains, wetlands, islands and mangroves create an enormous variety of habitats.
A tiny mammal that spends its nights moving quietly through the canopy can easily escape scientific attention.
What does a silky anteater eat all night?
Imagine the animal's world from its perspective.
The forest becomes dark.
Most people and many daytime animals disappear.
The silky anteater wakes up and begins moving slowly through the branches.
It is essentially looking for tiny packages of protein.
An ant colony in a branch or tree becomes dinner. The anteater uses its claws to open access to the insects and then uses its long tongue to collect them.
It doesn't need to chase its food.
It brings the food out of hiding.
This is a very different hunting strategy from that of a large predator. There is no dramatic chase and no roar. The whole process can happen almost silently.
And that is probably exactly what you would expect from an animal that weighs less than many people's house cats.
A surprisingly effective defense
Don't make the mistake of thinking that something this small is completely helpless.
When threatened, silky anteaters can adopt a defensive posture. They can stand on their hind legs, use their hind feet and prehensile tail to secure themselves to a branch and bring their powerful front claws into position.
They can then strike rapidly with those claws.
For an animal that looks cuddly enough to become a children's stuffed toy, those claws are serious business.
This is one reason wild animals should always be observed rather than handled. The animal may look harmless, but its survival depends on having defenses against predators that are considerably larger than itself.
Their babies are fascinating too
The reproductive biology of the Central American silky anteater is still not fully understood, but the specialist group reports a gestation period of approximately 120 to 150 days. A mother accompanied by a half-grown youngster has been recorded in Panama in February.
Like many small forest mammals, the young must eventually learn how to navigate a three-dimensional environment filled with branches, vines, predators and potential food.
For a baby silky anteater, the forest canopy is essentially an enormous climbing gym.
Except everything is alive.
The silky anteater's greatest enemy may be losing its forest
The conservation status of Cyclopes dorsalis is currently Least Concern, and the species has a broad distribution and occurs in protected areas. The specialist group notes, however, that threats are not fully understood and that habitat loss, particularly degradation of mangroves, may affect the species.
That uncertainty is worth remembering.
Being classified as Least Concern doesn't mean that every population is doing perfectly. It means that, at the species level, current evidence doesn't indicate that it is approaching the thresholds for a threatened category.
For an animal that depends heavily on forest structure, habitat matters enormously.
A silky anteater doesn't need a lawn.
It needs trees.
It needs branches.
It needs insects.
It needs enough connected vegetation to move through the canopy.
Protecting the forest therefore protects an entire miniature world that most people never see.
How big is a silky anteater compared with Panama's other anteaters?
The difference is extraordinary.
The giant anteater can grow to well over two metres in total length when its enormous tail is included. The silky anteater is only a fraction of that size.
It's tempting to think of the silky anteater as a miniature version of the giant anteater, but evolution has taken these animals in very different directions.
The giant anteater is largely terrestrial and walks around looking for large concentrations of ants and termites.
The silky anteater has essentially become a tiny nocturnal specialist of the treetops.
One is built for walking across the ground.
The other is built for gripping branches.
One is a conspicuous animal that can sometimes be spotted crossing an open landscape.
The other can spend an entire night in the canopy without a person ever noticing.
One of Panama's ultimate wildlife treasures
For wildlife lovers, finding a silky anteater in Panama can be more exciting than seeing a much larger and more famous animal.
Seeing a sloth is wonderful.
Seeing monkeys is wonderful.
But finding a silky anteater requires something different: patience, knowledge and a little luck.
It means looking in the right habitat, often at night, and understanding that the animal you're searching for may be only a few metres above your head.
And when you finally see one, it can take a moment to understand what you're looking at.
There is the tiny face.
The golden or silky fur.
The enormous claws.
The tail wrapped around the branch.
And then the realization hits: you're looking at one of the world's smallest anteaters, living quietly in the Panamanian forest.
That is what makes the silky anteater so fascinating.
Panama's wildlife isn't only about spectacular animals that announce themselves. Some of its most extraordinary creatures are the ones that have mastered the art of disappearing.
The silky anteater is a tiny, nocturnal, tree climbing specialist that can spend its entire life above your head, quietly hunting ants in the darkness. And somewhere in Panama tonight, one is almost certainly doing exactly that.