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ANT-EATER. 



ANT-EATER. 



220 



the nostrils ;i*d mouth placed at its extreme end ; the latter is so 

 small that its whole width scarcely exceeds an inch, and the jaws are 

 of equal length. The tongue is almost cylindrical, fleshy, extremely 

 flexible, and capable of being protruded to the distance of 16 or 18 

 inches. The toes of the anterior extremities, four in number, are of 

 unequal length, the innermost being the smallest and weakest of all ; 

 the second measures 24 inches in length, and is provided with a 

 powerful crooked claw nearly 2 inches long, sharp-pointed, and tren- 

 chant on its under surface ; the third, which is the largest of all, has 

 a similar claw 24 inches in length ; and the fourth, or exterior toe, 

 is provided with a smaller and weaker claw, like that of the innermost. 

 All these claws, when in a state of repose, are kept bent inwards, and 

 only extended, or rather half-extended (for the animal cannot open 

 the fingers farther), when used for defence, or for breaking through 

 the hard external crust of the ant-hills. 



The prevailing colour on the head, face, and cheeks of the Ant-Bear 

 is a mixture of gray and brown ; that on the upper parts of the body 

 and tail is a deep brown, mixed with silvery-white. A broad black 

 band, bordered on each side with a similar one of a white or light 

 grayish-brown colour, commences on the chest, and passes obliquely 

 over each shoulder, diminishing gradually as it approaches the loins, 

 where it ends in a point. The sides, arms, and thighs are silvery-gray, 

 with a slight mixture of brown, marked with two deep black spots, 

 one on the carpus, and the other on the toes ; the hind-legs are almost 

 perfectly black, and the breast and belly of a deep brown, almost 

 equally obscure. 



The habits of the Great Ant-Bear are slothful and solitary ; the 

 greater part of his life is consumed in sleeping, notwithstanding which 

 he is never fat, and rarely even in good condition. When about to 

 Bleep, he lies upon one side, conceals his long snout in the fur of the 

 breast, locks the hind and fore claws into one another, so as to cover the 

 head and belly, and turns his long bushy tail over the whole body iu 

 such a manner as to protect it from the too powerful rays of the sun. 

 The female bears but a single young one at a birth, which attaches 

 itself to her back, and is carried about with her wherever she goes, 

 rarely quitting her, even for a year after it has acquired sufficient 

 strength to walk and provide for itself. This unprolitic constitution, 

 and the tardy growth of the young, account for the comparative 

 rarity of these animals, which are said to be seldom seen, even in 

 their native regions. The female has only two mamma;, situated on 

 the breast, like those of apes, monkeys, and bats. 



In its natural state the Ant-Bear lives exclusively upon ants, to 

 procure which it opens then* hills with its powerful crooked claws, 

 and at the moment that the insects, according to their nature, flock 

 from all quarters to defend their dwellings, draws over them his long 

 flexible tongue, covered with glutinous saliva, to which they conse- 

 quently adhere ; and so quickly does he repeat this operation, that 

 we are assured he will thus project his tongue and draw it in again 

 covered with insects twice in a second. He never actually introduces 

 it into the holes or breaches which he makes in the hills themselves, 

 but only draws it lightly over the swarms of insects which issue forth 

 alarmed by his attack. "It seems almost incredible," says Azara, 

 " that so robust and powerful an animal can procure sufficient suste- 

 nance from ants alone ; but this circumstance has nothing strange in 

 it for those who are acquainted with the tropical parts of America, 

 and who have seen the enormous multitudes of these insects, which 

 xwann in all parts of the country, to that degree that their hills often 

 almost touch one another for miles together." The same author 

 informs us, that domestic Ant-Bears were occasionally kept by different 

 ersons in Paraguay, and that they had even been sent alive to Spain, 

 ing fed upon bread and milk, mixed with morsels of flesh minced 

 very small Like all animalu which live upon insects, they are capable 

 of 'sustaining a total deprivation of nourishment for an almost 

 time. 



The Great Ant-Bear is found in all the warm and tropical parts of 

 >Soutli America, from Colombia to Paraguay, and from the snores of 

 the Atlantic to the foot of the Andes. His favourite resorts are the 

 low swampy savannahs, along the banks of rivers and stagnant ponds, 

 also frequenting tin' humid forests, but never climbing trees, as falsely 

 reported by Buffon, on the authority of Laborde. His pace is slow, 

 heavy, and vacillating ; his head is carried low, as if he gmelled the 

 ground at every step, whilst his long shaggy tail, drooping behind 

 him, sweeps the ground on either side, and readily indicates his path 

 to the hunter ; though, when hard pressed, he increases his pace to a 

 kind of slow gallop, yet his greatest velocity never half equals the 

 ordinary running of a man. So great is his stupidity, that those who 

 encounter him in the woods or plains may drive: him before them 

 by merely pushing him with a stick, so long at least as he is not 

 ;:eed beyond a moderate gallop; but if pressed too 

 hard, or urged to extremity, he turns obstinate, sits up on his hind- 

 quarters like a bear, and defends himself with his powerful claws. 

 Like that animal, )ii.< 11x11:1! and indeed only mode of assault is by 

 seizing his adversary with his fore-paws, wrapping his arms round 

 him, and endeavouring by this means to squeeze him to death. His 

 great strength and powerful muscles would easily enable him to 

 accomplish his purpose in this respect, even against the largest 

 animals of his native forests, were it but guided by ordinary intelli- 

 gence, or accompanied with a common degree of activity. But in 



AT. HIST. DIV. VOL. I. 



these qualities there are few animals indeed which do not greatly 

 surpass the Ant-Bear ; so that the different stories handed down by > 

 writers on natural history from one another, and copied, without 

 question, into the histories and descriptions of this animal, may be 

 regarded as pure fictions. For this statement we have the express 

 authority of Don Felix d'Azara, an excellent observer and credible 

 writer, from whose ' Natural History of the Quadrupeds of Paraguay ' 

 we have derived the greater portion of the preceding account of the 

 habits and economy of this extraordinary animal. The flesh of the 

 Ant-Eater is esteemed a delicacy by the Indians and negro slaves, and, 

 though black, and of a strong musky flavour, is sometimes .even met 

 with at the tables of Europeans. 



2. The Tamaudua (M. Tamandua, Cuvier), is an animal much inferior 

 to the Great Ant-Bear in point of size, being scarcely so large as a 

 good-sized cat, whilst the other exceeds the largest greyhound in 

 length, though, from the shortness of its legs, it is much inferior in 

 height. The head of the Tamandua is not so disproportionately long 

 and small as that of the Great Ant-Bear. It is however of the same 

 general cylindrical form, and equally truncated at the extremity, 

 having the nostrils and mouth situated in the same position, and 

 equally minute, when compared with the size of the animal. Its 

 whole length, from the extremity of the muzzle to the root of tho 

 ear, is 5 inches, and to the anterior angle of the eye, 3 inches ; the 

 body, from the muzzle to the origin of the tail, measures 2 feet 

 2 inches, the tail itself being 1 foot 44 inches more ; the height at tho 

 shoulder is 1 foot 3 inches, and at the croup an inch lower ; the length 

 of the ear is \\ inch, its greatest breadth an inch, and the greatest 

 circumference of the head that, namely, taken immediately in front 

 of the ears 8J inches. The conformation of the extremities, and tho 

 number of the toes both before and behind, are iu every respect the 

 same as in the Great Ant-Eater ; but the Tamandua differs from this 

 animal particularly in the prehensile power of its tail, which makes it 

 essentially an arboreal quadruped, and altogether changes the most 

 striking traits of its habits and economy. The hair over the entire 

 body also is of a very different texture ; instead of being long, harsh, and 

 shaggy, as in the Great Ant-Bear, it is short, shining, and of a 

 consistence something between the qualities of silk and wool ; standing 

 out from the body like the latter, and of the same uniform length in 

 every part. The colours of this species, however, are by no means so 

 uniform and invariable as those of the species already described ; on 

 the contrary, they differ more in the Tamandua, according to the 

 individual, than perhaps in any other known animal in a state of 

 nature. Accordingly many eminent naturalists are disposed to 

 consider them as forming distinct species, rather than mere varieties 

 of the same ; and it is not improbable that, when we come to be 

 better acquainted with this animal in its native woods, their opinion 

 may be at least partly confirmed. 



Tamandua (M. Tamandua). 



The eyes of the Tamaudua are minute ; the ears small and round ; 

 the body long and cylindrical ; the legs short and robust ; the tail 

 round and attenuated, covered with very short hair throughout its 

 greater part, but naked underneath towards the point, and strongly 

 prehensile. There are several varieties of the Tamandua, chiefly 

 distinguished by differences of colour. 



The Tamaudua is an inhabitant of the thick primeval forests of 

 tropical America; it is never found on the ground, but resides 

 exclusively in trees, where it lives upon termites, honey, and even, 

 according to the report of Azara, bees, which in those countries form 

 their hives among tho loftiest branches of the forest, and, having no 

 sting, are more readily despoiled of their honey than their congeners 

 of our own climate. When about to sleep it hides its muzzle iu tho 

 fur of it* breast, falls on its belly, and letting its fore-feet hang 

 down on each side, wraps the whole tightly round with its tail. The 

 female, as in the case of the Great Ant-Eater, has but two pectoral 

 maimnic, and produces but a single cub at a birth, which she carries 

 about with her, on her shoulders, for the first three or four months. 

 The young are at first exceedingly deformed and ugly, and of a 

 uniform straw-colour. 



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