THE LIFE OF MAAIMALS 
terrific strength of its fore arms in striking and hugging an 
antagonist. But Azara, who writes at length on the animal’s 
habits, ridicules this, and assures us that a jaguar would knock 
an ant-eater dead before it got ready to resist. Here is an actual 
occurrence in Costa Rica, reported in The Field of Nov. 12, 
1892, which shows what happens 
when an ant-eater is incautiously 
assailed : — 
“One of these animals was creeping 
slowly amongst the stumps and fallen 
logs, and poking its long snout into the 
crevices in search of its insect food. 
We .were unarmed, but thought we 
could make an easy capture of such 
a harmless-looking beast. When the 
ant-eater saw that it could not escape, 
it threw itself upon its back, and D. 
rather imprudently seized it by the 
neck; immediately the brute struck 
out one of its paws and buried its for- 
midable claws deep in the palm of his 
SUES CUS hand. It was impossible for him to 
Bones of forefoot of the lesser ant- free himself from the grasp of this 
eater: I-V, digits, showing the vast 
enlargement of the third toe; «#-/w, monster, though he knelt upon its 
wrist-bones. stomach and tried his best to choke 
it, suffering excruciating pain all the 
time. Fortunately, B. was near at hand, and after a little delay found a 
heavy stick and with some difficulty, succeeded in stunning the brute, when 
its claws relaxed. We thought the animal was dead, and carried it between 
us on a stick to the house, but hardly had we put it down on the ground 
when it recovered itself, and made a fresh attack, and seized B. by the leg, 
making a deep gash. Thinking it was too dangerous a beast to keep alive, 
we now killed it and preserved the skin. The skin was remarkably thick, 
and the fore legs or arms exceedingly powerful.. . The Spaniards when 
they saw it said the ant-eater was a dangerous animal to encounter, and that 
they had seen dogs killed on the spot, with the claws of the ant-eater actu- 
ally interlocked in their bodies. This animal measured six and a half feet, 
including its bushy tail, which is two feet long.” 
472 
