Three Anteaters Climb the Mango Tree

On the 27th of April, along that shaded corridor running between the casa Paraíso and the sector of los Guardianes, three tamandúas mexicanas touched the soil of Fundación Loros for the first time. They had been brought by the CAV del EPA — the Centro de Atención a la Fauna Silvestre, the environmental authority of Cartagena — and received by Alberto, Carlos, and Omar, alongside Lorena, the veterinarian who had accompanied the process from the other end. There were three of them: a solitary adult and a female carrying her young. When the containers were opened, the animals did not hesitate. All three climbed immediately into the mango tree standing nearby, as if they knew exactly where they were headed — those curved claws, built to embrace bark, finding their natural place among the branches. The tamandúa mexicana, with its bicolored coat of black and pale yellow, is a quiet presence in the forests of the Colombian Caribbean — more active by night than by day, more shy than showy. Watching them disappear into the mango's canopy, the mother with her cria clinging to her back, was the understated and sufficient closing of an afternoon in the field.