Every season Rewilding Argentina records new births using clues from camera traps, but this year they had a big surprise: twins!
Did you know that Giant Anteaters always give birth to one offspring? It makes sense, as the mother spends many months hauling her offspring on her back through the tall grasses of the wetlands.
Tompkins Conservation and Rewilding Argentina piloted the reintroduction of this species in Iberá in 2007. In fact, it was the first species that we reintroduced, and taught us a lot so that we could work on larger and more challenging species. Today, this million-acre protected wetlands has a stable population growing on its own.
These pups underscore the success to rewild Iberá Park into a healthy and thriving ecosystem. Giant Anteaters play a critical role in their ecosystems: by feeding on large amounts of ants, termites, and other insects, they help control their populations, and when their long tongue doesn’t reach, they dig with their claws, creating watering holes that can benefit many other species.
In Argentina this is the first ever record of twin giant anteater pups, added to one recorded occurrence of twin pups in Brazil.