30 CARNIVORES. 
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the bear scrapes away with the fore-feet until he reaches the large combs at the 
bottom of the galleries. He then with violent pufts dissipates the dust and 
crumbled particles of the nest, and sucks out the inhabitants of the comb by such 
forcible inhalations as to be heard at two hundred yards’ distance or more. Large 
larvee are in this way sucked out from great depths under the soil. Where bears 
abound, their vicinity may be readily known by numbers of these uprooted ants’ 
nests and excavations, in which the marks of their claws are plainly visible. They 
occasionally rob birds’ nests and devour the eggs. ... The sucking of the paw, 
accompanied by a drumming noise when at rest, and especially after meals, is 
common to all bears, and during the heat of the day they may often be heard 
humming and puffing far down in caverns and fissures of rocks.” 
Like the fox-bats and the palm-civets, the sloth-bear will often visit the 
vessels hung on the palm-trees for the sake of their juice, and is said frequently to 
become very drunk in consequence. Sugar-cane is likewise a favourite dainty of 
these bears, which frequently do a large amount of damage to such crops. 
Although they generally subsist entirely on vegetable substances and insects, 
it seems that they will occasionally eat flesh; Sanderson mentioning an instance 
where one of them devoured the carcase of a recently-killed muntjac deer, the 
proof that a bear was the devourer being afforded by the imprints of its feet in 
the wet soil. The same observer also mentions that he has known bears gnaw 
the dry bones of cattle that have died in the jungle. 
With the exception of the puffing and humming noises already mentioned, the 
Indian sloth-bear is generally a silent animal. Mr. Blanford states, however, that 
“occasionally they make the most startling noise, whether connected with pairing 
or not I cannot say. I have only heard it in the beginning of the cold season, 
which is not their usual pairing-time. They occasionally fight under fruit-trees, 
but I think the noise then made is rather different.” 
Like most other members of the family, the sloth-bear has the sense of 
hearing but poorly developed, and its eyesight is also far from good; and hence 
it has a peculiarly comical way of peering about when it suspects intruders, 
as though it were short-sighted. From these deficiencies of sense it can be 
approached very closely from the leeward side. Its sense of smell, is, however, 
wonderfully acute, and by its aid it is enabled to detect concealed supplies of 
honey, and also to scent out ants’ nests when situated far below the ground. 
The number of cubs produced at a birth is, as in most bears, usually two, but 
it appears that there may sometimes be three. The young cubs are generally 
carried on the back of the female when the animals are on the move; and the 
author last mentioned observes that it is an amusing sight to watch the cubs 
dismount at the feeding-grounds, and scramble back to their seat at the first 
alarm. We are informed by Mr. Sanderson that the cubs are carried about in 
this manner till they are several months old and have attained the dimensions of 
a sheep-dog, and that when there is room for only one cub on the maternal back 
the other has perforce to walk by the side. 
In regard to their family life, Mr. Sanderson observes that these “bears are 
exceedingly affectionate animals amongst themselves, and are capable of being most 
thoroughly tamed when taken young. Either wild or tame they are very amusing 
