1 86 THE WORLD OF ANIMAL LIFE 



falling, twist their little tails tightly round hers, as if it were a 

 branch of a tree. 



Nearly all the opossums live in the trees, and are very active 

 among the branches, although they are rather clumsy and awkward 

 upon level ground. One species of these animals, however, never 

 seems to climb a tree at all, but spends a great part of its life in 

 the water! This is the Yapock Opossum, which is found in Brazil, 

 and makes its home in holes in the banks of rivers and streams. 

 It can swim and dive well, for its toes are webbed like those of a 

 beaver or a duck, so that they can be used as paddles. The food 

 of this animal consists of fish, tadpoles, water insects, and various 

 aquatic molluscs, and its mouth is furnished with cheek-pouches 

 like those of many monkeys, so that it is not obliged to rise to 

 the surface every time it catches a victim. 



MONOTREMES 

 ORNITHORHYNCHUS 



Ornithorhynchus is the name of a very strange animal, which is 

 otherwise known as the Duck-bill, from the peculiar shape of its 

 beak. It is indeed a creature that might well be described as half- 

 mammal and half-bird. The shape of its body is like that of the 

 otter, and the habits of the two animals are somewhat similar. 

 Like the otter also, its feet are webbed, the web on the fore-feet 

 extending a little beyond the claws. It is well clothed with fur, 

 which is brown on the back and white underneath. But its most 

 remarkable feature is its snout, which is hard and shaped like the 

 bill of a duck, and serves much the same purpose. The jaw of 

 the ornithorhynchus, however, differs from that of a duck in that 

 it is furnished with teeth at the back. 



Another and more remarkable point in which the ornitho- 

 rhynchus resembles a bird is that it lays eggs from which its 

 young are hatched. 



The ornithorhynchus lives in freshwater streams, and is to be 



