Edentates
Order : Xenarthra
Including anteaters, armadillos and sloths. They were formerly classified as the order Edentata (meaning toothless) and put in the same order as the aardvark and pangolins, until they discovered that the order was polyphyletic, meaning that unrelated species were seen as a group and was invalid. Now, anteaters, armadillos and sloths are in the order called Xenarthra which means "strange joints". It was named this way because they all have unique vertebral joint structure unlike any other mammal.
The smallest member of the Xenarthra is the Silky anteater, the largest is the Giant anteater.
Image: photographer Malene Thyssen, Licensed under Attribution ShareAlike 2.5
Animals in the order Xenarthra |
|---|
| Screaming hairy armadillo |
| Large hairy armadillo |
| Pink fairy armadillo |
| Nine-banded armadillo |
| Six-banded armadillo |
| Giant armadillo |
| Brazilian three-banded armadillo |
| Pichi |
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