AND DESERTS 139 
in Australia by small marsupials of similar habit, 
notably by Antechinomys laniger, a little jerboa-like 
animal with long hind-legs, a bushy tail, and the habit 
of progressing by jumps. Again, the banded ant-eater 
(Myrmecobius fasciatus) shows the long extensile tongue 
common to ant-eating forms, and is found in sandy 
regions where ant-hills occur. 
Among the inhabitants of savana regions, mention 
must be made of the running birds, which are specially 
adapted to these districts. The adaptations are well 
seen in the African ostrich (Struthio), distributed 
throughout Africa wherever the open sandy regions 
suitable to its habits occur, and found also in Syria, 
Arabia, and Mesopotamia. The great length of the 
legs and of the neck gives the animals a wide range of 
vision (cf. giraffe), the length of the hind-legs and the 
reduction of the number of toes to two gives them 
speed (cf. again the giraffe). Like the large antelopes 
- with which the ostriches associate in the southern parts 
of Africa, the ostrich is a social animal, the gregarious 
habit, as in the ungulates, being associated with poly- 
gamy. The males are bigger and stronger than the 
females, and use their hind-legs as weapons when 
attacked. ‘The young are active almost immediately 
after hatching, again recalling the precocious young of 
the ungulates of the steppes and savanas. Like many 
savana animals, ostriches can go without water for a pro- 
longed period, but they drink freely if water is available. 
In South America the place of the ostrich is taken 
by the rhea, which has three toes instead of two, and 
some other structural differences. The habits are some- 
what similar. The birds are chiefly found on the 
pampas, which correspond rather to steppe regions 
than to savanas in the strict sense. 
