228 GREAT ANTEATER. 



manner of doubt that the shaggy mound iu the corner was 

 truly " Myrmecophaga jubata, the Great Anteater from South 

 America ;" but for all that any one could see, it might have been 

 a goat or a dog, or simply a heap of hair. But at regular in- 

 tervals a keeper entered the cage and roused the animal from his 

 slumbers, and then you had an opportunity of observing its 

 strange ungainly appearance. The two most characteristic parts 

 of it are the head and the tail. The head is remarkably thin and 

 long, covered with short close hair, and slightly curved. At the 

 point of the elongated snout a narrow slit forms the diminutive 

 mouth, from which the animal protrudes its long cylindrical 

 tongue, which hangs down much like a huge black worm. The 

 immense tail has an upward curve, precisely the reverse of the 

 curve of the head ; it almost equals the body in length, and is 

 furnished with a profusion of long flowing hair, which sweeps the 

 ground as the animal walks along, and forms an ample covering 

 for the body when its owner is disposed to coil himself up for a 

 nap. A glance is sufficient to discover that it is the fore 

 limbs which are chiefly em-ployed, whether for work or war. 

 They are extremely thick and muscular, and are armed with 

 large claws, which turn in upon the soles of the feet, so as to 

 give the animal the appearance when in motion of walking on its 

 knuckles. 



^n a state of nature the Great Anteater lives, so far as is 

 known, exclusively on ants, for the procuring of which its 

 entire organization is beautifully adapted. Standing on its broad 

 hind feet, it breaks through the crust of the ant-hills with its 

 powerful hooked claws, and the moment the insects appear at 

 the breach, it darts its long flexible tongue, covered with a 

 glutinous saliva, into the thickest of the throng, and again draws 

 it into the mouth. By this means a considerable number of 

 ants are speedily obtained, the tongiie being protruded and again 

 drawn in upwards of a hundred times in a minute, and each 

 time of course covered with the insects. 



Like all the Edentate animals, the Great Antcater is natu- 

 rally shy and timid, and endeavours to escape from its assailants 

 by flight. Its pace, however, is slow and awkward, so that it is 

 easily overtaken, and it is said to be so excessively stupid that it 

 may be driven along in whatever direction the driver chooses. 

 f pressed too hard, however, it turns sulky, and sitting up on 



