472 VERTEBRATA. 



Oc7ius MYRMECOPIIAGA : Myrmecophaga. — Of this there is a single species, which is the* 

 largest and most remarkable of the family, the (Jreat Ant-Eater, or Tamanoir, M.jubata, some- 

 times called the Ant-Bear, an inhabitant of most of the tropical parts of South America eastward 

 of the Andes, although apparently rather scarce everywhere. It is a large animal, a full-grown 

 specimen measuring four feel and a half in length from the snout to the root of the tail, which in 

 its turn measures nearly three feet in length. It is a most singular creature in its appearance. Its 

 head is produced into a long snout covered with skin, which only leaves a very small opening or 

 hole at the tip for the protrusion of the tongue; its cars are very small ; its legs are rather long, 

 and excessively stout, especially the anterior pair, the long powerful claws of which, four in nura- 

 her, are turned inward against the naked soles, so that the creature walks upon its knuckles. The 

 hind-feet are furnished with a broad sole, and it is probably from this circumstance that it has 

 been compared to a bear. The body is covered with harsh bristly hairs, which attain an immense 

 length on the tail, from which they hang down perpendicularly so as to touch the ground. The 

 prevailing color is grayish-brown, a broad black band, bordered with white, passing over each 

 shoulder. When reposing, the Ant-Eater covers himself completely with his bushy tail, which 

 '^ives the sleeping animal very much the appearance of a heap of dried grass, and he is said to 

 resort to the same natural umbrella in case of a shower of rain ; according to Mr. Wallace, the 

 Indians are so well aware of this that when they meet with an Ant-Eater they shake the leaves 

 to produce a sound like that of rain, and then knock him on the head while he is taken up with 

 sheltering himself from the expected shower. 



The habits of the Great Ant-Bear arc slothful and solitary ; the greater part of his life is con- 

 sumed in sleeping, notwithstanding which he is never fat, and rarely even in good condition. 

 When about to sleep, he lies upon one side, conceals his long snout in the fur of the breast, locks 

 the hind and fore-claws into one another, so as to cover the head and belly, and turns his long 

 bushy tail over the whole body in such a manner as to protect it from the too powerful rays of 

 the sun. The female bears but a single young one at a birth, which attaches itself to her back, 

 and is carried about with her wherever she goes, rarely quitting her, even for a year after it has 

 acquired sufficient strength to walk and provide for itself. This unprolific constitution, and the 

 tardy growth of the young, account for the comparative, rarity of these animals, which are said to 

 be seldom seen, even in their native regions. The female has only two mamnne, situated on the 

 breast, like those of apes, monkeys, and bats. 



In its natural state the Ant-Bear lives exclusively upon ants, to procure which it opens their 

 hills with its powerful crooked claws, and at the moment that the insects, according to their na- 

 ture, flock from all quarters to defend their dwellings, draws over them his long flexible tongue, 

 covered with glutinous saliva, to which they consequently adhere; and so quickly does he repeal 

 this operation, that we arc assured he will thus project 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 issue 

 forth alarmed by his attack. "It seems almost incredible," says Azara, "that so robust and pow- 

 erful an animal can procure sufficient sustenance from ants alone; but this circumstance has 

 nothing Btrange in it for 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 same author 

 informs us that domestic Ant-Bears were occasionally kept by different persons in Paraguay, and 

 that they had even been sent alive to Spain, being fed upon bread and milk, mixed with morsels 

 of flesh minced very small. Like all animals which live upon insects, they arc capable of sus- 

 taining a total deprivation of nourishment for an almost incredible time. 



This strange animal is found in all the warm and tropical parts of South America, from Colom- 

 bia to Paraguay, and from the shores of the Atlantic to the foot of the Andes. His favorite rc- 

 sorts an' 1 lie low swampy savannahs, along the banks of rivers and stagnant ponds; he also fre- 

 quents the humid forests, but never climbs trees, as reported by Buffon on the authority of Laborde. 

 Bis pace is slow, heavy, and vacillating; his head is carried low, as if he siuelled the earth at 

 every step, while his long shaggy tail, drooping behind him, sweeps the earth on either side, 



