Hunters and Hunted 



A Central and South American bat is silvery grey in 

 colour, but its unusual hue is easily accounted for by the 

 fact that, when at rest, it clings to the under sides of the 

 coco-nut palm leaves, with which it harmonises to a 

 remarkable degree. 



Most curious bat of all is a bat hailing from Africa. It 

 is curious in habit, unusual in colouring and remarkable 

 in the manner of its colouring. It possesses the very 

 unbatlike habit of hunting its prey, which consists of 

 grasshoppers, etc., by day. Its fur is dark, but, in order 

 that it may not be so conspicuous, and may be rendered 

 more like a butterfly than otherwise would be the case, it 

 dyes its fur, just before it makes a flight, in the following 

 curious manner. On its rump there is a gland from 

 which it can and does eject an orange-coloured powder ; 

 this powder is sticky and adheres to its fur so thoroughly 

 that the creature is, in this extraordinary manner, changed 

 from a dark-coloured to an orange-coloured bat. 



One would think that the sloth would fall an easy prey 

 to animals searching for a tasty meal. Of this animal it 

 has been said : " One cannot look at the creature without 

 thinking that Nature has but poorly equipped it to live 

 in this murderous world. Its countenance is a picture of 

 complete and far-reaching stupidity, its bodily form the 

 acme of four-footed helplessness. It can neither fight, 

 hide, nor run away. It has no defensive armour, not even 

 spines. It is too large to live in a hole in a tree, and too 

 weak to dig or 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." 



The great naturalist BufYon was even more downright 

 in his description of these animals, of which he said : " One 

 more defect and they could not have existed." How, 

 then, does so inert an animal manage to evade its 

 enemies? By growing green algae on its fur and thus 

 closely resembling the trees in which it dwells, even to a 



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