Edentata (Noun)
Meaning
Order of mammals having few or no teeth including: New World anteaters; sloths; armadillos.
Classification
Nouns denoting animals.
Examples
- The edentata order also includes the relatively small opossum-like palaeanodonts, which were among the first known placental mammals from South America.
- Armadillos belong to the order edentata and have their name derived from the Spanish word for armor.
- Scientists state that sloths, which are part of the edentata order, have slow metabolisms as they only come down from trees to defecate once a week.
- Mammals within the edentata order like giant ground sloths and armadillos often only possess a few small blunt teeth used for nibbling plants.
- Taxonomists believe that the first New World anteaters occurred in the Oligocene, as fossils indicated by the primitive and general appearance and later took part of this edentata order of mammals.