1. Large shaggy-haired toothless anteater with long tongue and powerful claws; of South America
   "The ant bear tore open the termite mound with its claws";
   - giant anteater, great anteater, tamanoir, Myrmecophaga jubata
    
2. Nocturnal burrowing mammal of the grasslands of Africa that feeds on termites; sole extant representative of the order Tubulidentata
   "The ant bear's long tongue helps it extract termites from their mounds";
   - aardvark, anteater, Orycteropus afer

Derived forms: ant bears

Type of: anteater, eutherian, eutherian mammal, New World anteater, placental, placental mammal

Part of: genus Myrmecophaga, genus Orycteropus, Myrmecophaga, Orycteropus

Encyclopedia: Ant bear