176 TOOTHLESS MAMMALS 



It has no defensive armor, not even spines. It is too large 

 to live in a hole in a tree and too weak to dig a burrow in the 

 earth. It is too tired to walk on its feet, as the monkeys 

 do, so throughout its queer life it hangs underneath the 

 branches of the trees in which it finds its food. Its feet are 

 merely four hooks by which to hang. Since it feeds wholly 

 upon leaves and buds, it lives in the tropical forests, where 

 green leaves are plentiful and cheap. 



The sloth dwells only in the tree-tops, among the mon- 

 keys and macaws. On the ground, it would be more helpless 

 than a tortoise, and easily killed by any carnivore, or wild 

 pig. In the tree-tops, it escapes the climbing ocelot by living 

 far out on the ends of the branches; and it is fortunate for 

 him that hawks, owls and eagles are scarce in the forests 

 wherein he dwells. 



At this point, however, it is a pleasure to point out that 

 Nature has done one special thing for the preservation of 

 these odd creatures. The hair of a sloth is long, wavy and 

 coarse, rather more like grass than hair, and in color and 

 general appearance it is the best imitation of tree-bark that 

 has been given to any quadruped. This resemblance to bark 

 is heightened by the fact that the back hair of many a sloth 

 in its native forest has a greenish tint, like moss on a tree- 

 trunk, due to the presence on the hair of living vegetable 

 algae. This aids the sloth in escaping observation. 



On the mighty Essequibo River, in British Guiana, I 

 once made a special hunt for sloths. Having found it useless 

 to hunt them by stalking through the dense and lofty forests, 

 I took a leaky old canoe, an Indian to help furnish power, and 



