Giant Anteaters as Pets

Anteaters are not particularly fast, known to be intelligent, and they don't eat meat (in the wild at least), but the Giant Anteater can still be deadly and they have killed people before. Of course, dogs and horses can kill people just as easily, and Giant Anteaters are friendly when bottle-raised, my point is simply this, care must be exercised with all animals to prevent an injuries to yourself, other people, and other pets in the house-hold.

The Giant Anteater can reach 7 ft in length as an adult and have large, long, sharp claws to tear open ants nests. They don't, however, have teeth, and while they can gallop they have a low body temperature and prefer to take things easy and move slow.
When threatened, an anteater will stand on its hind legs and stretch out its claws towards it enemy. If they are frightened or cornered they can and will attack you to save themselves and this can lead to deadly wounds. If they cut an important artery you can bleed to death. This has happened on more than one occasion.

However, this does not mean Giant Anteaters are vicious, they simply protect themselves when being hunted and must be handled with caution.