AARD VARK. — Ori/ctcrojjus Cajjcjisis. 



The Ant-eaters, as their name imports, feed very largely on ants, as well as 

 on termites and various other insects, their long flexible tongue acting as a hand 

 for the purpose of conveying food into the mouth. The tongue of the Ant-eater, 

 when protuded to its fullest extent, bears some resemblance to a great red earth- 

 worm, and as it is employed in its food-collecting task, it coils and twists about as 

 if it possessed a separate vitality of its own. 



The Aard Vark, or Earth-hog, is a native of Southern Africa, and is a \evy 

 cmious animal. The skin of the Aard Vark is not protected by scales or plates 

 like those of the manis and the armadillo, but rather thinly covered with coarse 

 bristly hair. Its length is about five feet, the tail being twenty inches long, and it 

 is a very powerful creature, especially in the fore-limbs, which are adapted for 

 digging, and are furnished with strong hoof-like claws at their extremities. These 

 claws can be used with marvellous rapidity and force, and are employed for the 

 purpose of destroying the dwelhngs of the ants on which the Aard Vark feeds, as 

 well as for digging a bmTow for its own habitation. 



The burrows are not very deep, but are of tolerably large dimensions, and are 

 often used, when deserted, as extempore tombs, to save the friends of the deceased 

 from the trouble of digging a grave for their departed comrade. 



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