The City of Atascadero and the Charles Paddock Zoo are pleased to announce a new resident to the public this weekend. Amber, a Giant Anteater, joined the Atascadero Zoo this weekend. The new Anteater is an older animal who needed a home without other anteaters, so she has moved to the central coast for her retirement.

Giant Anteaters range from Honduras in Central America to Bolivia in South America. These animals are specialized to eat ants and termites. Their strong front claws are used to rip open ant nests.

Their tongue is almost 2 feet long, which they use to eradicate ants or termites from their nests. The Anteaters have sticky saliva, which is essential to remove these insects. While anteaters have no teeth, their specialized tongue lets them eat up to 30,000 ants and termites a day.

At the Atascadero Zoo, Amber will eat a special commercial insectivore diet.

Giant Anteaters are considered a threatened species; they are hunted, hit by cars, killed by pet dogs and driven out of areas that are converted to farming. It is estimated that only 5,000 Giant Anteaters remain in the wild.

Visitors to the Zoo can see Amber along with three Von der Decken hornbill chicks. The chicks are on display in the walk-through Aviary, where their parents are also housed.

Over 200 animals make their home at the Charles Paddock Zoo, including red pandas, monkeys, meerkats, parrots, a Malayan Tiger, a variety of reptiles and much more. The zoo is located next to Atascadero Lake Park off Highway 41 is open daily from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.