The number cruncher of the jungle

“Shan’t”, muttered Alberto, his face grumpy and mutinous. “Won’t!”He could hear his mother calling to him, but he pretended not to hear her and continued to sit under the shade of the pear tree that overlooked the stream. There were far too many trees and lots of bushy undergrowth in the large backyard, so Alberto was sure that his mother couldn’t spot him and drag him back to do his homework.

The silky anteater, or pygmy anteater, (Cyclopes didactylus) is a species of anteaters found in Central and South America. These are the smallest living anteaters, and have shorter faces/snouts compared to other species of anteaters. Adults range from a length of 36 to 45 cm, with a prehensile (grasping) tail that’s 17-24 cm long.

They have dense, soft, yellowish grey fur, with two claws on the fore feet. These animals are nocturnal, and found in Amazon’s tropical rainforests. They are tree- dwelling (arboreal) and sleep curled up into a ball on trees, atop a tightly packed nest of dry leaves.. The silky anteater obtains its water by using its long tongue to lick dew or rainwater from leaves. It is a slow-moving animal and feeds mainly on ants, eating between 700 and 5,000 a day, and sometimes even up to 8000. It also feeds on other insects, such as termites and beetles.

The silky anteater usually dwells in silk cotton trees. Because of its resemblance to the seed pod fibers of these trees, it can use the trees as camouflage and avoid attacks of predators such as hawks and, especially, harpy eagles.

Anteaters have no teeth, but have long, worm like tongues which secrete a lot of saliva, allowing them to sweep up ants easily into their mouths. The giant anteater's (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) tongue can stretch up on 60 cm out of its mouth 150 times per minute. This allows it to consume 30,000 ants every day.

“Numbers, numbers, numbers”, he grumbled. “Count this, count that. Count till one hundred. Count till one thousand. Count till ten thousand. I won’t do it!” Alberto hated numbers and mathematics. “I’ll go in only when it’s dinner time”, he thought to himself. “Daddy will be home by then and he won’t force me to study!”

Dusk was falling, and he hadn’t eaten anything after coming back from school. His stomach rumbled with hunger. He was in no mood to go back inside and submit to his strict mother.

He looked up at the pear tree. It wasn’t very big, or strong. Were there any pears on it? He tried climbing up the tree, but slid back down, his hands covered in scratches. He thought he could see some pears hanging on the top branches. He caught hold of the slim trunk and started shaking it, hoping that the pears would fall down.

Thump, thump, thump! Several pears fell down in succession. Alberto ran around, picking up the pears. Just as he was about to pick up a particularly large one, he heard a groan. What? Was it the pear groaning? How could it?

The “pear” groaned again. Now that Alberto looked at it closely, he realized it wasn’t a pear at all. It seemed like a ball of fur. And the ball was unfurling itself into an unfamiliar animal. Alberto pulled back a little in alarm. The animal looked pained and sad, and looked at Alberto with big, woeful eyes. It looked somewhat cute, but it had a strange face, with an elongated snout. It had dense, yellowish golden fur, giving it the appearance of his teddy bear back home, but its two large claws on each forepaw filled him with fear. It groaned again.

“Why did you push me out of my nest?” it asked Alberto. “Your nest?” Alberto was puzzled. “But you’re not a bird! You’re – you’re—”“I am an anteater, and I was sleeping up there on the tree, in my nest made of dry leaves”, said the creature. “I usually don’t come down, but today you forced me to. What sort of creature are you then?”

Alberto was taken aback. “I’m— I’m just a child”, he said, uncertainly. “Yes, yes, but what sort of a child?” asked the ant eater. “A— a human child, I suppose”, said Alberto, feeling more and more intimidated by the minute.

The ant eater peered at him keenly. “Are you the sort of child who pulls pranks on others?” it asked, half curiously, half-shrewdly. “Or are you the sort of child that gets joy out of torturing poor little animals like me?”“Oh, no”, said Alberto hurriedly. “Never!”

“Then, are you the sort of child who doesn’t love his parents or the sort of child who doesn’t do his homework?” asked the ant-eater slyly.Alberto went red in the face. “I love my parents”, he said, “But the homework—”

“Ah, I thought so”, the ant eater shook its head. “A bad child, all the same.”Now Alberto wasn’t a bad child, though he hated doing his homework. It upset him to be called one, too. “I suppose I must just complain to your mother now, about how naughty you have been, pushing me off the tree, and tell her you’ve been hiding out here to escape your homework”, said the ant-eater, starting to walk towards the house.

“No, please, don’t”, Alberto blocked the ant-eater’s path and begged him. “I’ll do anything you ask me to, just don’t make me go back inside to do the homework.”“Anything?” asked the ant-eater, a sly look on its face.

“Anything”, said Alberto. Anything was better than going back inside and doing his math, thought Alberto. “Well, you see, the fall was so bad, that I’ve hurt my back now”, said the ant-eater. “And I don’t think I can hunt any ants on my own tonight, so can you get me some ants as my food?”

“Is that all?” Alberto seemed relieved. “I’ll do it immediately.”And so, Alberto set out, hunting for ants. Luckily, the entire place was full of ants, and Alberto carefully collected a handful into his cap and took it to the ant-eater. The ant-eater’s long tongue came swishing out. Zwhip! In a moment, the ant-eater had swept in all the ants in Alberto’s cap. Alberto smiled, satisfied, and turned to go. “Hey, wait!” called the ant-eater. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“What is it?” asked Alberto, bewildered. “I brought you ants, and we’re even now!”“That isn’t even a bite for me”, said the ant-eater. “I am still hungry, and I must eat many more ants!”Alberto set out again, trying to find ants. But no matter how many ants he collected and brought for the ant-eater, the ant-eater simply wasn’t satisfied. “More”, it would say. “Bring me more!”

Alberto broke open entire ant colonies, and suffered from ant bites himself, trying to appease the ant-eater. He was tired and wondered how much more the ant-eater would eat. Besides, he was feeling quite hungry himself. “You’ve already eaten so many ants! How many ants do you generally eat?”

“Well, I eat at least 5000 ants every day”, said the ant-eater. “Sometimes 8000”.Alberto was horrified. “I’m sure I brought you even more than that”, he said angrily. “And you’re asking me to get you more?”“How do you know you got me 5000?” said the ant-eater, a smirk on its face. “You don’t even know how to count.”

Alberto got up, a determined look on his face. “I know how to count. Now I’ll get you exactly 5000 ants, and then you can’t lie anymore.” Alberto set to work. He carefully counted the ants he brought to the ant-eater. “Here’s a hundred”, he said, putting his cap down. Then he brought a swarm in a banana leaf and set it down. “here’s five hundred.”

Slowly, Alberto managed to count out 5000 ants and set them before the ant eater. “There, I’m done”, he told the ant-eater, and turned to go home. “Wait! I am still hungry”, called the ant-eater. “Should I come and complain to your mother?”
“Complain all you like”, said Alberto confidently. “If I could count out 5000 ants for you, doing my math homework is no big deal. In fact, that’s exactly what I’m going to do right now.”