THE GREAT ANT-BEAR. 



177 



GREAT ANT-BEAR. 



live upon insects, they are capable of sustaining a total deprivation of nourishment for an almost 

 incredible time." 



The Great Ant-Bear 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. His favourite resorts 

 are the low, swampy savannahs, along the banks of rivers and stagnant ponds. He is found also 

 frequenting the humid forests, but never climbing trees, as falsely reported by Buffon, on the 

 authority of La Borde. His pace is slow, heavy, and hesitating ; his head is carried low, as if 

 he smelled the ground at every step, whilst his long, shaggy tail, drooping behind him, sweeps the 

 ground on each side, and readily indicates his path to the hunter ; though, when hard pressed, he 

 increases his pace to a slow gallop, yet his greatest velocity never half equals the ordinary run- 

 ning of a man. So great is his stupidity, that those who encounter him in the woods or plains 

 may drive him before them by merely pushing him with a stick, so long, at least, as he is not 

 compelled to proceed beyond a moderate gallop ; but if pressed too hard, or urged to extremity, he 

 turns obstinate, sits up on his hind quarters like a Bear, and defends himself with his powerful claws. 

 Like that animal, his usual, and indeed only, mode of assault is by seizing his adversary with his fore 

 paws, wrapping his arms round him, and endeavouring by this means to squeeze him to death. His 

 great strength and powerful muscles would easily enable him to accomplish his purpose in this respect, 

 even against the largest animals of his native forests, were it but guided by ordinary intelligence, 

 or accompanied with a common degree of activity. But in these qualities there are few animals, 

 indeed, which do not greatly surpass the Ant-Bear, so that the different stories handed down by 

 writers on natural history from one to another, and copied, without question, into the histories and 

 descriptions of this animal, may be regarded as pure fiction. For this statement we have the express 

 authority of Don Felix d'Azara, an excellent observer and credible writer, from whose "Natural 



