The 38-year-old male employee who reported the anteater’s disappearance described it as being 15 inches long and golden brown in color, McGlothian-Taylor said.

The anteater was hanging from a tree in a diorama of a Central American rainforest on the museum’s second floor, museum director Gary Morgan said.

Morgan said there is a railing but no glass separating the museum visitors from the exhibit, so whoever took the anteater would have had to climb into the exhibit to do so.

“There are only certain areas of the museum where that type of event could happen,” he said. “That gallery is of course one of them because it is open.”

Some students, such as zoology sophomore Rachel Smith, were surprised by the alleged theft.
Smith said she would question the motivation as well as the ethics of whoever would steal part of an exhibit from a museum.

“I’m not sure why someone would want to steal a stuffed anteater because I feel like that doesn’t have the best odor to it,” she said. “I’d probably think it was pretty cool (since) I’m a zoology major, I just don’t know why you would want one.”

Because the exhibits are checked infrequently, it is difficult to tell the exact time and date when the anteater was taken, Morgan said.

Morgan said this is the first theft from the gallery he’s experienced, and most people who visit the museum are there to enjoy what it has to offer.

The museum stopped putting glass over the dioramas several years ago in order to make the exhibits look as realistic as possible, Morgan said.

“By removing the glass, one gets a much freer enjoyment with the dioramas,” he said. “And they do look much, much better without glass than with the reflective glass.”

Criminal justice junior Tyler Soldo said if it was in fact a theft, it reflects more poorly on the individual than on MSU or the museum.

Soldo, who has visited the museum in the past, said the incident likely was an
isolated incident, but the museum could use better security.

“You can’t blame the university because somebody stole (the anteater),” he said. “They could probably improve security (at the museum) but it’s one of those things where you don’t even know (what to do).”

The museum will look into options to improve security by checking the exhibits more frequently and possibly installing security cameras or have more security in the museum, Morgan said.

Morgan said the key is finding a balance between the appropriate amount of security and providing an engaging environment for museum visitors.

“What we don’t want to do is diminish the enjoyment of everybody else because of this one incident,” he said. “It’s most important that that gallery remains a nice resource for families and schools as well as people on campus.”