document_title: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

question_text: who is joseph paine in mr smith goes to washington

text: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

text: Plot[edit]

text: The governor of an unnamed western state, Hubert "Happy" Hopper (Guy Kibbee), has to pick a replacement for recently deceased U.S. Senator Sam Foley. His corrupt political boss, Jim Taylor (Edward Arnold), pressures Hopper to choose his handpicked stooge, while popular committees want a reformer, Henry Hill. The governor's children want him to select Jefferson Smith (James Stewart), the head of the Boy Rangers. Unable to make up his mind between Taylor's stooge and the reformer, Hopper decides to flip a coin. When it lands on edge – and next to a newspaper story on one of Smith's accomplishments – he chooses Smith, calculating that his wholesome image will please the people while his naïveté will make him easy to manipulate.

text: Junior Senator Smith is taken under the wing of the publicly esteemed, but secretly crooked, Senator Joseph Paine (Claude Rains), who was Smith's late father's friend. Smith develops an immediate attraction to the senator's daughter, Susan (Astrid Allwyn). At Senator Paine's home, Smith has a conversation with Susan, fidgeting and bumbling, entranced by the young socialite. Smith's naïve and honest nature allows the unforgiving Washington press to take advantage of him, quickly tarnishing Smith's reputation with ridiculous front page pictures and headlines branding him a bumpkin.

text: To keep Smith busy, Paine suggests he propose a bill. With the help of his secretary, Clarissa Saunders (Jean Arthur), who was the aide to Smith's predecessor and had been around Washington and politics for years, Smith comes up with a bill to authorize a federal government loan to buy some land in his home state for a national boys' camp, to be paid back by youngsters across America. Donations pour in immediately. However, the proposed campsite is already part of a dam-building graft scheme included in an appropriations bill framed by the Taylor political machine and supported by Senator Paine.

text: Unwilling to crucify the worshipful Smith so that their graft plan will go through, Paine tells Taylor he wants out, but Taylor reminds him that Paine is in power primarily through Taylor's influence. Through Paine, the machine in his state accuses Smith of trying to profit from his bill by producing fraudulent evidence that Smith already owns the land in question. Smith is too shocked by Paine's betrayal to defend himself, and runs away.

text: Saunders, who looked down on Smith at first, but has come to believe in him, talks him into launching a filibuster to postpone the appropriations bill and prove his innocence on the Senate floor just before the vote to expel him. In his last chance to prove his innocence, he talks non-stop for about 24 hours, reaffirming the American ideals of freedom and disclosing the true motives of the dam scheme. Yet none of the Senators are convinced.

text: The constituents try to rally around him, but the entrenched opposition is too powerful, and all attempts are crushed. Owing to the influence of Taylor's machine, newspapers and radio stations in Smith's home state, on Taylor's orders, refuse to report what Smith has to say and even distort the facts against the senator. An effort by the Boy Rangers to spread the news in support of Smith results in vicious attacks on the children by Taylor's minions.

text: Although all hope seems lost, the senators begin to pay attention as Smith approaches utter exhaustion. Paine has one last card up his sleeve: he brings in bins of letters and telegrams from Smith's home state, purportedly from average people demanding his expulsion. Nearly broken by the news, Smith finds a small ray of hope in a friendly smile from the President of the Senate (Harry Carey). Smith vows to press on until people believe him, but immediately collapses in a faint. Overcome with guilt, Paine leaves the Senate chamber and attempts to commit suicide by gunshot, but is stopped by onlooking senators. He then bursts back into the Senate chamber, shouting a confession to the whole scheme; Paine further insists that he should be expelled from the Senate and affirms Smith's innocence, to the delight of Clarissa. The President of the Senate observes the ensuing chaos with amusement.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Jean Arthur as Clarissa Saunders
James Stewart as Jefferson "Jeff" Smith
Claude Rains as Senator Joseph Harrison "Joe" Paine
Edward Arnold as Jim Taylor
Guy Kibbee as Governor Hubert "Happy" Hopper
Thomas Mitchell as "Diz" Moore
Eugene Pallette as Chick McGann
Beulah Bondi as Ma Smith
H. B. Warner as Senate Majority Leader
Harry Carey as President of the Senate
Astrid Allwyn as Susan Paine
Ruth Donnelly as Mrs. Hopper
Grant Mitchell as Senator MacPherson
Porter Hall as Senator Monroe
Pierre Watkin as Senate Minority Leader
Charles Lane as "Nosey", reporter
William Demarest as Bill Griffith
Dick Elliott as Carl Cook
The Hopper Boys:

Billy Watson
Delmar Watson
John Russell
Harry Watson
Gary Watson
Baby Dumpling (Larry Simms)

H. V. Kaltenborn as himself

Uncredited

Russell Simpson as Kenneth Allen
Dick Jones as Richard "Dickie" Jones, Senate Page Boy
Nick Copeland as Senate Reporter
Anne Cornwall as Senate Reporter
Gino Corrado as Barber
Maurice Costello as Diggs - Newsman
Alec Craig as Speaker
Beatrice Curtis as Paine's Secretary
Lew Davis as Senate Clerk
Dulcie Day as Senate Reporter
Wally Dean as Paine's Friend
Vernon Dent as Senate Reporter
Harry Depp as Hat Salesman / Secretary
Robert Middlemass as 2nd Radio Announcer
Gladys Gale as Committee Woman
Stanley Andrews as Senator Hodges

text: Cast notes:

text: Among the unbilled veteran character actors seen in the film are Guy Kibbee's brother, Milton Kibbee, who has a bit as a reporter; Lafe McKee; and Matt McHugh of the McHugh acting family. Also in the film in minor roles are Dub Taylor and Jack Carson, later well-known actors. Silent film star Hank Mann played a photographer.

text: Production[edit]

text: Columbia Pictures originally purchased Lewis R. Foster's unpublished story, variously called "The Gentleman from Montana" and "The Gentleman from Wyoming", as a vehicle for Ralph Bellamy, but once Frank Capra came on board as director – after Rouben Mamoulian had expressed interest – the film was to be a sequel to his Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, called Mr. Deeds Goes to Washington, with Gary Cooper reprising his role as Longfellow Deeds.[N 1] Because Cooper was unavailable, Capra then "saw it immediately as a vehicle for Jimmy Stewart and Jean Arthur",[7] and Stewart was borrowed from MGM.[4] Capra said of Stewart: "I knew he would make a hell of a Mr. Smith ... He looked like the country kid, the idealist. It was very close to him."[8]

text: Although a youth group is featured in the story, the Boy Scouts of America refused to allow their name to be used in the film and instead the fanciful "Boy Rangers" was used.[4]

text: In January 1938, both Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Paramount Pictures submitted Foster's story to the censors at the Hays Office, likely indicating that both studios had an interest in the project before Columbia purchased it. Joseph Breen, the head of that office, warned the studios: "[W]e would urge most earnestly that you take serious counsel before embarking on the production of any motion picture based on this story. It looks to us like one that might well be loaded with dynamite, both for the motion picture industry, and for the country at large." Breen specifically objected to "the generally unflattering portrayal of our system of Government, which might well lead to such a picture being considered, both here, and more particularly abroad, as a covert attack on the Democratic form of government", and warned that the film should make clear that "the Senate is made up of a group of fine, upstanding citizens, who labor long and tirelessly for the best interests of the nation ..."

text: Later, after the screenplay had been written and submitted, Breen reversed course, saying of the film, "It is a grand yarn that will do a great deal of good for all those who see it and, in my judgment, it is particularly fortunate that this kind of story is to be made at this time. Out of all Senator Jeff's difficulties there has been evolved the importance of a democracy and there is splendidly emphasized the rich and glorious heritage which is ours and which comes when you have a government 'of the people, by the people, and for the people'".[4]

text: The film was in production from April 3, 1939, to July 7 of that year.[9] Some location shooting took place in Washington, D.C., at Union Station and at the United States Capitol, as well as other locations for background use.[10][11]

text: In the studio, to ensure authenticity, an elaborate set was created, consisting of Senate committee rooms, cloak rooms, and hotel suites, as well as specific Washington, D.C., monuments, all based on a trip Capra and his crew made to the capital. Even the Press Club of Washington was reproduced in minute detail,[4][12] but the major effort went into a faithful reproduction of the Senate Chamber on the Columbia lot. James D. Preston, a former superintendent of the Senate gallery, acted as technical director for the Senate set, as well as advising on political protocol. The production also utilized the "New York street set" on the Warner Bros. lot, using 1,000 extras when that scene was shot.[4]

text: The ending of the film was apparently changed at some point, as the original program describes Stewart and Arthur returning to Smith's hometown, where they are met by a big parade, with the implication that they are married and starting a family.[4] In addition, the Taylor political machine is shown being crushed; Smith, riding a motorcycle, visits Senator Paine and forgives him; and a visit to Smith's mother is included. Some of this footage can be seen in the film's trailer.[13]

text: Impact[edit]

text: The film premiered in Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., on October 17, 1939, sponsored by the National Press Club, an event to which 4,000 guests were invited, including 45 senators.[8] Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was attacked by the Washington press, and politicians in the U.S. Congress, as anti-American and pro-Communist for its portrayal of corruption in the American government.[14] While Capra claims in his autobiography that some senators walked out of the premiere, contemporary press accounts are unclear about whether this occurred or not, or whether senators yelled back at the screen during the film.[15]

text: It is known that Alben W. Barkley, a Democrat and the Senate Majority Leader, called the film "silly and stupid", and said it "makes the Senate look like a bunch of crooks".[16] He also remarked that the film was "a grotesque distortion" of the Senate, "as grotesque as anything ever seen! Imagine the Vice President of the United States winking at a pretty girl in the gallery in order to encourage a filibuster!" Barkley thought the film "... showed the Senate as the biggest aggregation of nincompoops on record!"[16]

text: Pete Harrison, a respected journalist and publisher of the motion picture trade journal Harrison's Reports, suggested that the Senate pass a bill allowing theater owners to refuse to show films that "were not in the best interest of our country". That did not happen, but one of the ways that some senators attempted to retaliate for the damage they felt the film had done to the reputation of their institution was by pushing the passage of the Neely Anti-Block Booking Bill, which eventually led to the breakup of the studio-owned theater chains in the late 1940s. Columbia responded by distributing a program which put forward the film’s patriotism and support of democracy and publicized the film’s many positive reviews.[17]

text: Other objections were voiced as well. Joseph P. Kennedy, the American Ambassador to Great Britain, wrote to Capra and Columbia head Harry Cohn to say that he feared the film would damage "America’s prestige in Europe", and because of this urged that it be withdrawn from European release. Capra and Cohn responded, citing the film’s review, which mollified Kennedy to the extent that he never followed up, although he privately still had doubts about the film.[18]

text: The film was banned in Hitler's Germany, Mussolini's Italy, Franco's Spain and Stalin's USSR.[19] According to Capra, the film was also dubbed in certain European countries to alter the message of the film so it conformed with official ideology.[19]

text: When a ban on American films was imposed in German occupied France in 1942, some theaters chose to show Mr. Smith Goes to Washington as the last movie before the ban went into effect. One theater owner in Paris reportedly screened the film nonstop for 30 days after the ban was announced.[20]

text: The critical response to the film was more measured than the reaction by politicians, domestic and foreign. The critic for The New York Times, for instance, Frank S. Nugent, wrote that "[Capra] is operating, of course, under the protection of that unwritten clause in the Bill of Rights entitling every voting citizen to at least one free swing at the Senate. Mr. Capra’s swing is from the floor and in the best of humor; if it fails to rock the august body to its heels – from laughter as much as from injured dignity – it won’t be his fault but the Senate's, and we should really begin to worry about the upper house."[21]

text: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington has been called one of the quintessential whistleblower films in American history. Dr. James Murtagh and Dr. Jeffrey Wigand cited this film as a seminal event in U.S. history at the first "Whistleblower Week in Washington" (May 13–19, 2007).[22][23]

text: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington has often been listed as among Capra’s best, but it has been noted that it "marked a turning point in Capra’s vision of the world, from nervous optimism to a darker, more pessimistic tone. Beginning with American Madness (1932), such Capra films as Lady for a Day (1933), It Happened One Night (1934), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), and You Can’t Take It With You (1938) had trumpeted their belief in the decency of the common man. In Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, however, the decent common man is surrounded by a venal, petty and thuggish group of crooks. Everyone in the film – except for Jefferson Smith and his tiny cadre of believers – is either in the pay of the political machine run by Edward Arnold’s James Taylor or complicit in Taylor’s corruption through their silence, and they all sit by as innocent people, including children, are brutalized and intimidated, rights are violated, and the government is brought to a halt".[24]

text: Nevertheless, Smith’s filibuster and the tacit encouragement of the Senate President are both emblematic of the director's belief in the difference that one individual can make. This theme would be expanded further in Capra's It's a Wonderful Life (1946) and other films.

text: Awards and honors[edit]

text: Academy Awards[edit]

text: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was nominated for 11 Academy Awards but won only one.[25]

text:
Award
Result
Winner

Outstanding Production
Nominated
Columbia Pictures (Frank Capra)
Winner was David O. Selznick - Gone with the Wind

Best Director
Nominated
Frank Capra
Winner was Victor Fleming - Gone with the Wind

Best Actor
Nominated
James Stewart
Winner was Robert Donat - Goodbye, Mr. Chips

Best Writing, Screenplay
Nominated
Sidney Buchman
Winner was Sidney Howard - Gone with the Wind

Best Writing, Original Story
Won
Lewis R. Foster

Best Supporting Actor
Nominated
Claude Rains*

Harry Carey*
*Winner was Thomas Mitchell - Stagecoach

Best Art Direction
Nominated
Lionel Banks
Winner was Lyle R. Wheeler - Gone with the Wind

Best Film Editing
Nominated
Gene Havlick, Al Clark
Winner was Hal C. Kern, James E. Newcom - Gone with the Wind

Best Music, Scoring
Nominated
Dimitri Tiomkin
Winner was Herbert Stothart - The Wizard of Oz

Best Sound Recording
Nominated
John P. Livadary
Winner was Bernard B. Brown - When Tomorrow Comes

text: Other honors[edit]

text:
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was named as one of the best films of 1939 by The New York Times and Film Daily, and was nominated for Best Film by the National Board of Review.
James Stewart won the 1939 New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor.
In 1989, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was added to the United States National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."[26]

text:
1998 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies #29
2003 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains:

Jefferson Smith, Hero #11
Senator Joseph Paine, Villain - Nominated

2006 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers #5
2007 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) #26

text: Remakes[edit]

text:
In 1949, Columbia planned, but never actually produced, a sequel to Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, called Mr. Smith Starts a Riot. They also considered doing a gender-reversed remake in 1952, with Jane Wyman playing the lead role.[4]
A television series of the same name, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, ran on ABC during the 1962–1963 season, starring Fess Parker, Sandra Warner and Red Foley.
Producer Frank Capra, Jr. remade the film as part of Tom Laughlin's Billy Jack series, Billy Jack Goes to Washington (1977).{{cn|date=September 2017))
The film was also loosely remade as The Distinguished Gentleman (1992), starring Eddie Murphy.[citation needed]

text: In popular culture[edit]

text:
The March 10, 1940 broadcast of Jack Benny's NBC radio show featured a parody entitled "Mr. Benny Goes to Washington."[27]
The short-lived NBC political drama Mister Sterling (2003) was described as "a Mr. Smith Goes to Washington for the 21st century", with the show centering on an idealistic young senator from California, coming to grips with Washington and appointed by a scheming, underhanded governor.[4]
The VHS release of Ernest Rides Again featured the opening Saturday Night Live-based short "Mr. Bill Goes to Washington", a spoof of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
The film's influence can be seen on many other films that deal with the United States Congress, including Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde and Evan Almighty.[citation needed]
The Simpsons episode "Beyond Blunderdome" includes a parodistic, fake remake of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, authored by a fictional Mel Gibson with Homer Simpson's help. The fictional remake follows the same plot of the original (save for being set in the 21st century) until the final iconic "filibuster scene", replaced with a stock action scene in which a nearly exhausted Mr. Smith suddenly stands up and viciously slaughters every single senator, impaling Senator Payne with an American flag, destroying the Senate and beheading the President of the United States, mockingly quoting Marilyn Monroe's "Happy Birthday, Mr. President".
The Simpsons episode "Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington" is inspired by, and contains several references to Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. The episode deals with Lisa Simpson's disillusionment with Washington government, following her winning a trip to Washington as a prize in an essay contest.
The Simpsons episode "Mr. Spritz Goes to Washington" is also inspired by this film. In it, the Simpsons help Krusty the Clown get elected to Congress in exchange for his help in passing a bill that would move the airport flight path away from their neighborhood. Once in Washington, they find their plans blocked by a corrupt and lazy Congress, until Walter Mondale (who is now a janitor) shows them the tricks to get their bill passed.


document_title: Giant anteater

question_text: how has the anteater adapted to its environment

root

text: Giant anteater

text: Taxonomy and phylogeny[edit]

text: The giant anteater got its binomial name from Carl Linnaeus in 1758. Its generic name, Myrmecophaga, and specific name, tridactyla, are both Greek, meaning "anteater" and "three fingers", respectively.[4] Myrmecophaga jubata was used as a synonym. Three subspecies have been tentatively proposed: M. t. tridactyla (ranging from Venezuela and the Guianas to northern Argentina), M. t. centralis (native to Central America, northwestern Colombia, and northern Ecuador), and M. t. artata (native to northeastern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela). The giant anteater is grouped with the semiarboreal northern and southern tamanduas in the family Myrmecophagidae. Together with the family Cyclopedidae, whose only extant member is the arboreal silky anteater, the two families comprise the suborder Vermilingua.[5]

tag: p

text:
Sloths

Bradypus

Choloepus

Anteaters

Cyclopes

Tamandua

Myrmecophaga

Armadillos

Dasypus

Priodontes

Cabassous

Tolypeutes

Chaetophractus

Euphractus

Zaedyus

Phylogenetic tree of the living Xenarthra.[6]

tag: table

text: Anteaters and sloths belong to order Pilosa and share superorder Xenarthra with the Cingulata (whose only extant members are armadillos). The two orders of Xenarthra split 66 million years ago (Mya) during the Late Cretaceous epoch. Anteaters and sloths diverged around 55 Mya, between the Paleocene and Eocene epochs. The Cyclopes lineage emerged around 30 Mya in the Oligocene epoch, while the Myrmecophaga and Tamandua lineages split 10 Mya in the Late Miocene subepoch.[6] During most of the Cenozoic era, anteaters were confined to South America, which was formerly an island continent. Following the formation of the Isthmus of Panama about 3 Mya, anteaters of all three extant genera invaded Central America as part of the Great American Interchange.[7]

text: The fossil record for anteaters is generally sparse.[8] Some known fossils include the Pliocene genus Palaeomyrmidon, a close relative to the silky anteater, Protamandua, the sister taxon to the clade that includes the giant anteater and the tamanduas from the Miocene, and Neotamandua, a sister taxon to Myrmecophaga.[9] Protamandua was larger than the silky anteater, but smaller than a tamandua, while Neotamandua was larger, falling somewhere between a tamandua and a giant anteater. Protamandua did not appear to have feet specialized for terrestrial or arboreal locomotion, but it may have had a prehensile tail. Neotamandua, though, is unlikely to have had a prehensile tail and its feet were intermediate in form between those of the tamanduas and the giant anteater.[8] The species Neotamandua borealis was suggested to be an ancestor of the latter.[10]

text: The giant anteater is the most terrestrial of the living anteater species. Its ancestors may originally have been adapted to arboreal life;[9] the transition to life on the ground could have been aided by the expansion of open habitats such as savanna in South America and the availability there of colonial insects, such as termites, that provided a larger potential food source. Both the giant anteater and the southern tamandua are well represented in the fossil record of the late Pleistocene and early Holocene.[8]

text: Description[edit]

text: The giant anteater can be identified by its large size, elongated muzzle, and long bushy tail.[11] It has a total body length of 182–217 cm (5.97–7.12 ft). Males weigh 33–41 kg (73–90 lb) and females weigh 27–39 kg (60–86 lb),[4] making the giant anteater the largest extant species in its suborder. The head of the giant anteater, at 30 cm (12 in) long,[12] is particularly elongated, even when compared to other anteaters.[13] Its tubular snout, which ends in its tiny mouth opening and nostrils, takes up most of its head. Its eyes and ears are relatively small.[4] It has poor eyesight,[11] but its sense of smell is 40 times more sensitive than that of humans.[14] Giant anteaters can live around 16 years in captivity.[11]

text: Even for an anteater, the neck is especially thick compared to the back of the head,[13] and a small hump can be found at the back of the neck. The coat is mostly grey and salted with white. The forelimbs are white, with black bands around the wrists, while the hindlimbs are dark. Thick black bands with white outlines stretch from throat to shoulder, ending in triangular points. The body ends in a brown tail. The coat hairs are long, especially on the tail, which makes the tail look larger than it actually is. A stiff mane stretches along the back.[4] The bold pattern was thought to be disruptive camouflage, but a 2009 study suggests it is warning coloration.[15] While adult males are slightly larger and more muscular than females, with wider heads and necks, visual sex determination can be difficult. The penis and testes are located internally between the rectum and urinary bladder in males, and females have a single pair of mammary glands near the armpits.[16]

text: The giant anteater has broad ribs. Despite its specific name, it has five toes on each foot. Four toes on the front feet have claws, which are particularly elongated on the second and third digits.[16] It walks on its front knuckles, similar to the African apes, specifically gorillas and chimpanzees. Doing this allows the giant anteater to keep its claws out of the way while walking. The middle digits, which support most of its weight, are extended at the metacarpophalangeal joints and bent at the interphalangeal joints.[17] Unlike the front feet, the hind feet have short claws on all five toes and walk plantigrade.[4] As a "hook-and-pull" digger, the giant anteater's enlarged supraspinous fossa gives the teres major more leverage—increasing the front limbs' pulling power—and the triceps muscle helps power the flexion of the thickened third digit of the front feet.[18]

text: The giant anteater has a low body temperature for a mammal, about 33 °C (91 °F), a few degrees lower than a typical mammalian temperature of 36–38 °C (97-100 °F).[14] Xenarthrans in general tend to have lower metabolic rates than most other mammals, a trend thought to correlate with their dietary specializations and low mobility.[19]

text: Feeding anatomy[edit]

text: The giant anteater has no teeth and is capable of only very limited jaw movement. It relies on the rotation of the two halves of its lower jaw, held together by a ligament at the tip,[13] to open and close its mouth. This is accomplished by its masticatory muscles,[20] which are relatively underdeveloped.[13] Jaw depression creates an oral opening large enough for the slender tongue to flick out. It is typically 60 cm (24 in)[4] long and is triangular posteriorly, rounded anteriorly, and ends in a small, rounded tip.[13] The tongue is covered in backward-curving papillae and coated in thick, sticky saliva secreted from its enlarged salivary glands,[12] which allows the giant anteater to collect insects with it.

text: The tube-like rostrum and small mouth opening restrict the tongue to protrusion-retraction movements. During feeding, the tongue moves in and out around 160 times per minute (nearly three times per second). According to biologist Virginia Naples, these movements are powered by the unique musculature of the giant anteater's long, large, and flexible hyoid apparatus.[13] Conversely, biologist Karen Reiss states that the anteater's tongue has no attachments to the hyoid and this is what allows it to flick its tongue at such speeds.[21][22] The animal relies on the orientation of its head for aim. When fully extended, the tongue can reach 45 cm (18 in), longer than the length of the skull. The buccinators allow it to slide back in without losing attached food and tighten the mouth to prevent food from escaping as it extends. When retracted, the tongue is held in the oropharynx by the secondary palate, preventing it from blocking respiration. This retraction is aided by the long sternoglossus muscle, which is formed by the fusion of the sternohyoid and the hyoglossus, and does not attach to the hyoid.[13] Thus, the tongue is directly anchored to the sternum.[23]

text: Giant anteaters swallow at a much higher rate than most other mammals; when feeding, they swallow almost continuously.[13] Before being swallowed, insects are crushed against the palate.[12] The giant anteater's stomach, similar to a bird's gizzard, has hardened folds and uses strong contractions to grind up the insects. The digestive process is assisted by small amounts of ingested sand and soil.[16] The giant anteater cannot produce stomach acid of its own, but uses the formic acid of its prey for digestion.[12]

text: Distribution and status[edit]

text: The giant anteater is native to Central and South America. Its known range stretches from Honduras to northern Argentina, and fossil remains have been found as far north as northwestern Sonora, Mexico.[7] It is largely absent from the Andes[4] and has been extirpated in Uruguay.[2] It may also be extirpated in Belize, Costa Rica, and Guatemala.[2] The species can be found in a number of habitats including both tropical rainforests and xeric shrublands,[11] provided enough prey is present to sustain it.[24]

text: The species is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN, due to the number of regional extirpations,[2] and under Appendix II by CITES, tightly restricting trade in specimens of the animal.[25] Between 2000 and 2010, the total population declined by 30%.[2] In 1994, some 340 giant anteaters died due to wildfires at Emas National Park in Brazil.[26] The animal is particularly vulnerable to fires due to its slow movement and flammable coat.[4]

text: Human-induced threats include collision with vehicles, attacks by dogs, and destruction of habitat. The giant anteater is commonly hunted in Bolivia, both for sport and sustenance. The animal's thick, leathery hide is used to make equestrian equipment in the Chaco. In Venezuela, it is hunted for its claws.[24] Giant anteaters are killed for safety reasons, due to their reputation as dangerous animals. The giant anteater remains widespread. Some populations are stable and the animal can be found in various protected areas in the Amazon and the Cerrado.[24] It is officially protected in some Argentine provinces as a national heritage species.[2]

text: Behavior and ecology[edit]

text: The giant anteater may use multiple habitats. A 2007 study of giant anteaters in the Brazilian Pantanal found the animals generally forage in open areas and rest in forested areas, possibly because forests are warmer than grasslands on cold days and cooler on hot days.[27] Giant anteaters can be either diurnal or nocturnal. A 2006 study in the Pantanal found those anteaters to be mostly nocturnal: they are most active during nighttime and early morning, and retire as the temperature rises. On colder days, they start and end periods of activity earlier, shifting them into daylight hours, and may become diurnal.[28] Diurnal giant anteaters have been observed at Serra da Canastra.[29] Nocturnality in anteaters may be a response to human disturbances.[30]

text: Giant anteaters typically rest in dense brush, but may use tall grass on cooler days. They carve a shallow cavity in the ground for resting. The animal sleeps curled up with its bushy tail folded over its body. The tail serves both to conserve body heat and as camouflage. One anteater was recorded sleeping with its tail stretched out on a sunny morning with an ambient temperature of 17 °C (63 °F); possibly it was positioned this way to allow its body to absorb the sun's rays for warmth.[31]

text: Giant anteaters are good swimmers and are capable of moving through wide rivers.[4] They have been observed to bathe.[32] They are also able to climb and have been recorded ascending both termite mounds and trees while foraging. One individual was observed holding onto a branch with its feet just touching the ground.[33]

text: Spacing[edit]

text: Giant anteaters' home ranges vary in size depending on the location. At Serra da Canastra National Park in Brazil, female anteaters have home ranges around 3.67 km2 (910 acres), while males live in home ranges of 2.74 km2 (680 acres). In other parts of Brazil, anteaters may have 9 km2 (2,200 acres) ranges. Anteaters from Venezuela have been recorded living in home ranges as large as 25 km2 (6,200 acres).[29] Individuals mostly live alone, except for females that nurse their young and males courting females. Anteaters communicate their presence, status, and sexual condition with secretions from their anal glands. They also advertise their presence to other individuals though tree markings and urine.[34] They appear to be able to recognize each other's saliva by scent.[14]

text: Females appear to be more tolerant of females than males are of males, leading to greater overlap in female home ranges. Males are more likely to engage in agonistic behaviors,[29] such as slowly circling each other, chasing, or actual fighting.[14] Circling anteaters may cry a drawn-out "harrr". In combat, they slash at each other with their claws and wrestle each other to the ground.[4] Fighting anteaters may emit roars or bellows.[29] Males are possibly territorial.[14]

text: Foraging and predation[edit]

text: This animal is an insectivore, feeding mostly on ants or termites. In areas that experience seasonal flooding, like the grassy plains of the Venezuelan llanos, anteaters mainly feed on ants, because termites are less available.[14] Conversely, anteaters at Emas National Park eat mainly termites, which occur in high density on the grasslands.[35] At Serra da Canastra, anteaters switch between eating mainly ants during the wet season (October to March) and termites during the dry season (May to September).[14]

text: Anteaters track prey by their scent.[11] After finding a nest, the animal tears it open with its long fore claws and inserts its long, sticky tongue to collect its prey. An anteater spends one minute on average feeding at a nest, visiting up to 200 nests in one day and consuming as many as 30,000 insects.[16] The anteater may be driven away from a nest by the chemical or biting attacks of soldiers.[11] Some termite species rely on their fortified mounds for protection and many individuals escape while the predator digs.[35] These modes of defense prevent the entire colony from being eaten in one anteater attack.[14]

text: Other prey include the larvae of beetles and western honey bees that have located their hives in termite mounds. Anteaters may target termite mounds with bee hives.[14] In captivity, anteaters are fed mixtures made of milk, eggs, mealworms, and ground beef.[30] To drink, an anteater may dig for water when no surface water is available, creating waterholes for other animals.[32] Giant anteaters are primarily prey for jaguars and pumas. They typically flee from danger by galloping, but if cornered,[30] will rear up on their hind legs and slash at the attacker.[36] The giant anteater's front claws are formidable weapons, capable of killing a jaguar.[37]

text: Although they are shy and typically attempt to avoid humans, giant anteaters can inflict severe wounds with their front claws and have been known to seriously injure or kill humans who corner and threaten them. Between 2010 and 2012, two hunters were killed by giant anteaters in Brazil; in both cases, the hunters were agitating and wounding cornered animals and the attacks appeared to be defensive behaviors.[38] In April 2007, an anteater at the Florencio Varela Zoo mauled a zookeeper with its front claws.[39][a]

text: Reproduction and parenting[edit]

text: Giant anteaters can mate throughout the year.[14] During courtship, a male consorts with an estrous female, following and sniffing her. Male and female pairs are known to feed at the same insect nest.[29] While mating, the female lies on her side as the male crouches over her. A couple may stay together for up to three days and mate several times during that period.[14] Gestation lasts around 190 days[29] and ends with the birth of a single pup,[16] which typically weighs around 1.4 kg (3.1 lb).[37] Females give birth standing upright.[14]

text: Pups are born with eyes closed and begin to open them after six days. The mother carries its dependent pup on its back.[30] The pup's black and white band aligns with its mother's, camouflaging it.[16] The young communicate with their mothers with sharp whistles and use their tongues during nursing. After three months, the pup begins to eat solid food and is fully weaned by ten months. The mother grooms her offspring during rest periods lasting up to an hour. Grooming peaks during the first three months and declines as the young reaches nine months of age, ending by ten months. The decline mirrors that of the weakening bond between mother and offspring; young anteaters usually become independent by nine or ten months.[4] Anteaters are sexually mature in 2.5–4 years.[30]

text: In culture[edit]

text: In the mythology and folklore of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon Basin, the giant anteater is depicted as a trickster foil to the jaguar, as well as a humorous figure due to its long snout. In one Shipib tale, an anteater challenged a jaguar to a breath-holding contest under water, which the jaguar accepted. After the two removed their pelts and submerged, the anteater jumped out of the water and stole the jaguar's pelt, leaving the jaguar with the anteater's pelt. In a Yarabara myth, the evil ogre Ucara is transformed into one by the sun. This myth emphasizes the nearly immobile nature of the anteater's mouth, which was considered a burden.[41] The Kayapo people wear masks of various animals and spirits, including the anteater, during naming and initiation ceremonies. They believe women who touched anteater masks or men who stumbled while wearing them would die or receive some sort of physical disorder.[42]

text: During the Spanish colonization of the Americas, the giant anteater was one of many native fauna taken to Europe for display. At first, Europeans believed all anteaters were female and mated with their noses, a misconception corrected by naturalist Félix de Azara.[43] In the 20th century, Salvador Dalí wrote imaginatively that the giant anteater "reaches sizes bigger than the horse, possesses enormous ferocity, has exceptional muscle power, is a terrifying animal." Dalí depicted an anteater in the style of The Great Masturbator. It was used as a bookplate for André Breton, who compared the temptations a man experiences in life to what "the tongue of the anteater must offer to the ant."[44]

text: The 1940 Max Fleischer cartoon Ants in the Plants features a colony of ants fighting off a villainous anteater. Released during the Phoney War, the film may have alluded to France's Maginot Line.[45]

text: An anteater is also a recurring character in the comic strip B.C.. This character was the inspiration for Peter the Anteater, the University of California, Irvine team mascot.[46]

text: The Flash cartoon Happy Tree Friends features an anteater named Sniffles.

text: In the Stephen King miniseries Kingdom Hospital, the character Antubis appears in the form of an anteater-like creature with razor-sharp teeth.[47]

text: Notes[edit]

text: Jump up ^ The animal in question, a male named Ramon, had a reputation for aggressiveness.[40]

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