Why are anteaters monotreme mammals?

There are many different mammal species which eat ants, and most of them are placentals, including all the species which are called “anteaters”. read more

Monotremes are mammals that lay eggs. Anteaters do not lay eggs. Anteaters instead belong to a group called the Xenarthrans, which also include the sloths, armadillos, and extinct glyptodonts. read more

Only two kinds of egg-laying mammals are left on the planet today—the duck-billed platypus and the echidna, or spiny anteater. These odd “monotremes” once dominated Australia, until their pouch-bearing cousins, the marsupials, invaded the land down under 71 million to 54 million years ago and swept them away. read more