4 2 4 TOOTHLESS ANIMALS 



respects the species too closely resemble each other to call 

 for separate description. 



FAMILY MYRMECOPHAGID/E (ANT-EATERS). 



The animals of this family are marked by long, thick hair 

 and a long tail, which in some species is prehensile. The 

 fore and hind limbs are of an equal length. All Ant-eaters 

 are quite devoid of teeth. In the long, tapering snout is 

 a slender, wormlike tongue, which is remarkably extensile 

 and covered with a glutinous saliva, to which the animal's 

 insect food adheres. Another distinguishing feature is the 

 heavily clawed toes of the fore feet, the third of which is 

 better armed than the others. 



GREAT ANT-EATER (Myrmecophaga jubata). 

 Coloured Plate XXXI. Fig. 5. 



The Great Ant-eater, Ant Bear, or Tamanoir, is a native 

 of South America. It attains a length of four feet, with 

 a tail three parts as long. The hair is stiff and bristly, 

 mainly ashy grey mingled with black, while there is a 

 conspicuous black stripe edged with white across the 

 shoulders. The tail is remarkably bushy and appears to 

 form the greater part of the animal. Owing to the length 

 of the claws, the Tamanoir cannot walk on the soles of the 

 fore feet, and, although there is not the same hindrance 

 in the case of the hind feet, its gait is extremely awkward. 



The Tamanoir is exclusively an insect-eater, preferably 

 termites and ants and their larvae. Termites, or white ants, 

 as they are often wrongly called, are the most destructive of 

 insects, nothing except metal being able to resist their jaws. 

 But the Ant-eater with its claws assails their sugar-loaf 

 earthen nests, which are strong enough to support the 

 weight of wild cattle. Very speedily the contents are laid 

 bare and the Ant-eater protrudes its tongue to a length of 

 over a foot, and proceeds to lick up its insect delicacy. 



Notwithstanding the peculiarly cunning expression of its 



