330 SLOTHS, ANT-EATERS AND ARMADILLOS 



covered with glutinous saliva, to which they consequently adhere ; 

 and so quickly does he repeat this operation, that we are assured 

 he will thus exert 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 will 

 issue forth, alarmed by his attack. It seems almost incredible 

 that so robust and powerful an animal can procure sufficient sus- 

 tenance from ants alone ; but this circumstance has nothing strange 

 in it to those who are acquainted with the tropical parts of 

 America, and who have seen the enormous multitudes of these 

 insects which swarm in all parts of the country to that degree 

 that their hills often almost touch one another for miles together." 

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

 of South America, from Colombia to Paraguay, and from the 

 shores of the Atlantic to the foot of the Andes, and is terrestrial 

 in habit. 



The Tamandua (Tamandua tetmdactyla) is much smaller 

 than the great ant-eater, has a prehensile tail, and leads an 

 arboreal life. This animal has a long head and snout, small 

 mouth, and rounded ears. Its fore-limbs are very stout, and the 

 hind ones rest on rather a long sole; The fore-claws are bent on 

 the hands, and the animal walks on their outer and upper surface, 

 using them also to clasp and to hang on by in climbing. This little 

 ant-eater is an inhabitant of the dense forests of tropical South 

 America, in Paraguay and Brazil. The female is said to produce 

 but a single cub at a birth, and to carry it about on her shoulders 

 for the first three or four months. When irritated, the Tamandua 

 gives off a most pungent and unpleasant odour. 



The Two-Toed Ant-Eater (Cyclothurus didactylus) at first 

 sight appears to resemble a sloth with a prehensile tail ; and its 

 round head, furry body, and two claws on the front limbs, add to 

 the resemblance. It frequents the forests of Brazil, Costa Rica, 

 and Honduras, where it leads an arboreal existence, preying upon 

 the swarming insect life, and climbing from branch to branch, 

 and tree to tree, by means of its stout claws and prehensile tail. 

 In the general shape of the body it rather resembles a miniature 

 tamandua, the little animal being about the size of a full-grown 

 squirrel: Von Sack, who kept a couple of these little animals 



