ANT-BEAR 



i37 



licking up ants — especially white ants — by means of their long, extensile, worm- 

 like tongues. 



Although, as already stated, adult pangolins are toothless, microscopic 

 examination of the jaws of a foetus of a Malay pangolin has revealed the presence 

 of minute outgrowths which appear to be the last remnants of teeth, as they seem 

 structurally different from hairs. So far as can be determined, these structures, 

 of which there are thirteen or fourteen pairs in the lower jaw, indicate simple 

 peg-like teeth, comparable to those of armadillos. The number of pairs in the 

 upper jaw is considerably less. 



Ant-Eear. 



Perhaps the most remarkable of all African mammals is the ant- 

 bear or aard-vark (Orycteropus afro), which has several local races 

 distributed, in suitable situations, all over Ethiopia from Abyssinia and Somaliland 

 to the Cape. The ant-bear, which has no near relations in any part of the world, 

 is an unmistakable animal, of the size of a small pig, with a long head, terminating 

 in a blunt, pig-like snout pierced by the circular nostrils, a tubular mouth devoid 

 of front teeth, long ears, and a short neck. The fore-quarters are low, the back is 

 much arched, and the hind-quarters pass imperceptibly into a thick cylindrical tail 

 tapering gradually from root to tip. The short but powerful limbs are armed in the 

 front pair with four strong claws for digging, and in the hind pair with five of a 

 shorter type. The thick hide is generally yellowish brown in colour, and more or 

 less sparsely covered with rather long coarse hair, of which the colour varies locally 



