386 



THE TOOTHLESS ANIMALS. 



mals in captivity knows that he has reason to be well 

 satisfied if his pets survive nine years on the aver- 

 age, and he who has intimate knowledge of the 

 edentates will admit that so long a time is truly a 

 great age for a member of this order. The cage in 

 which Kees was confined had a scaffolding of wood 

 in the centre, on which the animal could climb; it 

 had a thick litter of hay on the floor, strong panes 

 of glass formed its sides and it was open above. I 

 have kept my own pets in a similarly constructed 

 cage. He was fed on boiled rice and carrots usually, 

 but did not refuse any vegetable food offered him. 

 Habits of If one pays the animal a visit in the 

 Captive daytime, the only thing to be seen in 



Sloths. t.]-n S glass box is a ball, strikingly re- 



sembling a heap of reed-grass. This ball presents no 

 particular significance by its shape, as at such times 

 almost nothing of the limbs of the Sloth can be dis- 

 cerned. A closer inspection shows that the limbs 

 have assumed the attitude usual when the animal is 

 at rest or sleeping. 



However, the furry ball can be brought to life, if 

 one knows how to proceed; for the Sloth is by no 

 means as dull-witted as it is popularly supposed to 

 be, being on the contrary a nice, honest fellow, only 

 requiring to be handled in the right way. If the 

 keeper simply comes to the cage and calls it, the 

 ball gradually begins to show signs of animation. 

 Deliberately, or as one might say, slowly and some- 

 what clumsily, it evolves itself and little by little it 

 develops into an animal, which may not be good- 

 looking, but still is not so hideous as it has been 

 depicted. Slowly and steadily the animal lifts one 

 of its long forelegs, and hooks the sharp claws to 

 one of the cross bars of the scaffolding. If one 

 holds some tidbit, especially a lump of sugar, to the 

 upper bars, it climbs up with moderate rapidity to 

 obtain this choice morsel, sniffs along the wall and 

 opens its mouth as wide as possible, pleading, as it 

 were, to have the sugar thrown in. Then with its 

 eyes closed it eats it, smacking its lips, clearly show- 

 ing how much it relishes the sweet morsel. 



Uses of the The economic value of Sloths to Alan 

 Sloth to is very small. In some regions In- 



Man - dians and Negroes eat the flesh, the 



unpleasant odor and taste of which disgust Caucas- 

 ians, and in some places coverings and pouches are 

 manufactured out of the tough, strong and durable 

 hide. On the other hand the animals inflict but very 

 little damage, as they retire in the same ratio as 

 man advances. They also are in the list of those 

 animals which are approaching utter extinction. 

 They can maintain their hold on life in only the 

 remotest forest, and no longer than the magnificent 

 trees which give them shelter and food are spared 

 by the axe of the white settlers will their existence 

 be possible. 



tlbe Hnt^eatcrs. 



SECOND FAniLY: Myrmecophagid/E. 



The Ant-eaters, which are comprised in the sec- 

 ond family, bear but a slight external resemblance 

 to the Sloths. The body is elongated; the head, and 

 especially the snout, are very long and slender; the 

 tail attains nearly half the length of the body. The 

 fur is thick, rough and peculiar, especially on the 

 upper surface. The hinder limbs are slender and 

 weaker than the fore limbs. The bony structure of 

 the feet shows five toes, not all of which are armed 



with claws, however. The cavity of the mouth is 

 very small, while the tongue is long, thin and 

 rounded, in appearance resembling a worm. The 

 ears and eyes are very small. The structure of the 

 skull is still more striking. In consequence of the 

 elongation of the facial region the snout is long and 

 tubular; the intermaxillary bone is small and curved 

 and does not properly articulate with the maxillary, 

 but is joined thereto by cartilage only. One looks 

 in vain for teeth, but no vestige of any is found. 



The Great Ant- The largest species of the family is 

 eater or Ant- the Great Ant-eater, or Ant-bear, 

 Bear. called Yurumi in Paraguay and Tam- 



anoa in Surinam {Myrmecophaga jubata) . The fur of 

 this very remarkable animal consists of thick, stiff 

 bristles, prickly to the touch. Short on the head, 

 they become longer on the neck and along the back- 

 bone, where they form a mane and may be nine 

 and one-half inches long. The hair of the tail is 

 from ten and one-half to sixteen inches, the fur of 

 the rest of the body and legs being only from three 

 to four and one-half inches long. The coloring of 

 the fur is somewhat variable. The prevailing color 

 of the head is ashy gray mixed with black. Nearly 

 the same hue obtains on the nape of the neck, back, 

 part of the sides, the forelegs and the tail. The 

 throat, neck, breast, abdomen, hind feet and under 

 part of tail are blackish brown. A black band, 

 tapering toward the hind quarters, runs from the 

 head and breast over the back obliquely to the rump 

 and is bounded on each side by a narrow stripe of 

 pale gray, running parallel with it. A black band 

 encircles the end of the fore arm, and the toes of the 

 fore-feet and naked parts of the body are also black. 

 The length of an adult Yurumi is fifty-two inches, 

 the tail without hair measuring twenty-seven inches 

 and with the hair at least thirty-eight inches, and 

 often more than this. That means that the animal 

 attains a total length of ninety-two inches; some- 

 times one finds old males, however, which are larger. 



"The Yurumi is not very common in Paraguay, and 

 inhabits the wholly or partially deserted fields in the 

 north of the country. It has neither a fixed retreat 

 nor other permanent domicile, but roves about the 

 plains in the day and sleeps where night finds it, 

 for this purpose generally selecting a spot where 

 the grass grows very high or where there is a growth 

 of bushes. It is usually solitary in its wanderings, 

 unless it be a female with her young one. Its gait 

 is a slow walk, sometimes, when it is pursued, chang- 

 ing into a clumsy gallop, which, at best, is so slow 

 that a human being, walking, can overtake it. Its 

 sustenance is confined to a diet of Ants, Termites, 

 and the larvae of both. In order to obtain access to 

 them it scratches and tears with the long nails of 

 its fore-feet at the heaps of earth which form their 

 domicile, protrudes its long tongue under the insects 

 which pour out from all sides and then draws it into 

 its mouth when it is covered with them. It repeats 

 the performance until it is satisfied or until the Arits 

 or Termites are all exterminated. 



Propagation To the female Sloth a single young 

 of Ant- one is born in spring and she trans- 



eaters, ports it on her back for a time. It 



is a quiet, peaceable animal, which annoys neither 

 Man nor other mammals in any way, unless it be 

 much provoked." 



Uses to Which The flesh and skin of the Yurumi 

 Ant-eaters are utilized only by the uncivilized 

 are Put. Indians; still, there are country peo- 



ple in Paraguay who believe the skin to be an unfail- 



