EDENTATA 339 



FAMILY TAPIRIDAE TAPIRS 



Fossil tapirs of extinct species are found widely distributed over 

 the earth, but living species are confined to Central and South America 

 and the Malay Archipelago. They are "browsers, feeding on twigs, 

 water plants, bulbs and a little grass." 7 Tapirns terrestris was found 

 in Brazil feeding on the fruit of a tree. 8 The principal foes of the 

 American species are jaguars, and of the Malayan species, tigers. 

 "Tapirs are hunted by the natives for the sake of their thick hides, 

 which are cut into thongs for reins and bridles. The flesh is also es- 

 teemed by some." 9 The hides are also made into leather. 



GROUP EDENTATA SLOTHS, ARMADILLOS, ANTEATERS, ETC. 



It has long been recognized by systematists that the old heterogene- 

 ous "order" Edentata includes animals which seem too distinct to be 

 retained in one order. The present tendency is to divide the group into 

 several orders. Sloths have several teeth and armadillos have numerous 

 teeth. For them the name Edentata is misleading. The armadillos are 

 placed by some recent authors in an order Xenarthra, and the African 

 aard vark in an order Tubulidentata. The practice does not yet seem 

 to be entirely uniform. The marsupalian anteaters of Australasia al- 

 w r ays have been considered distinct. There is much confusion concern- 

 ing the habits of armadillos and anteaters, because of the loose use 

 of the term "ants" in referring to termites, or white ants. 



FAMILY BRADYPODIDAE SLOTHS 



The living sloths are confined to Central and South America. Un- 

 like the fossil ground sloths, the living species hang from the branches 

 of trees. They feed on leaves, shoots and fruits. They are of no eco- 

 nomic importance. It is believed that the great extinct ground sloths, 

 belonging to a different 'family, browsed from the ground. 



FAMILY DASYPODIDAE ARMADILLOS 



The armadillo, found from Texas southward, "is a voracious con- 

 sumer of insects, especially white grubs and their adults, caterpillars 

 and ants," and it deserves "thorough protection as a most useful aid 

 to the farmer." 1 It has been accused of destroying the eggs of wild 



'Jennison, Natural history: animals, p. 210, 1927. 



8 Miller, Journ. Mammalogy, xi, 21, 1930. 



9 Nature Lovers' Library, v, 158, 1917. Miller, Journ. Mammalogy, xi, 21, 1930. 



1 McAtee, The role of vertebrates in the control of insect pests, Ann. Kept. Smith- 

 sonian Inst. for 1925, p. 416. Seton, Lives of game animals, iv, Part 2, pp. 848-863, 

 1929 ; citing Nelson, Wild animals of North America, p. 585, 1918. 



