:388 



THE TOOTHLESS ANIMALS. 



feet, the body measuring about twenty-four inches; 

 the height from' the ground to the top of the shoul- 

 der is said to average from twelve to fourteen 

 inches. 



Habits and Haunts ^o far we have been able to learn 

 of the Taman- very little concerning the life of this 

 <'""• remarkable creature. In Paraguay 



:and Brazil the Tamandua lives everywhere in the 

 lonely forest districts, affecting the edges of woods 

 and bushes, sometimes being found near human 

 dwellings. It not only lives on the ground, but 

 climbs trees with moderate agility, though its speed 

 does not exceed that of the Sloths; its tail also 

 comes into requisition to render secure its position 

 in sitting. Its food consists mainly of Ants, and 

 .especially such as live on trees. 

 Observations Re- The Tamandua has also been taken 

 garding Captive to foreign lands in recent years, es- 

 Tamanduas. pecially to London. Bartlett kept 

 the first specimen in his own room in order that he 

 might be able more accurately to observe its move- 

 ments. With the help of its powerful, hook-like 

 claws and prehensile tail it quickly climbed upon the 

 different articles of furniture, and finally, becoming 

 more familiar, it jumped thence to Bartlett's shoul- 

 der, and in search for food inserted its pointed snout 

 and long, vermiform tongue into all the folds of his 

 clothing, and explored his ears, nose and eyes in a 

 not exactly pleasant manner. As it became more 

 tame, whenever a visitor approached, the Ant-eater 

 .quickly came to the front bars of its cage and 

 ■slipped its investigating tongue over the hand held 

 out to it; one had to be careful, however, not to let 

 it grasp his fingers with its claws. 



The Peculiar The Tamandua gives forth from 



Odor of the the scent-glands with which it is 



Tamandua. equipped, a remarkably strong, 



musk-like odor, especially when it is irritated or 



excited by the approach of an enemy. 



[According to some late authorities there are two 

 species of the Tamanduas: one called the Collared 

 Tamandua {Tamandua bivittata) and the other the 

 Yellow Tamandua (Tamandua lo?igicauda) .'\ 



LITTLE OR TWO-TOED ANT-EATER. 



The Little or Two- toed Ant-eater [Cycloturus didac- 

 tylus) is a little animal of about the size of a Squir- 

 rel, being some sixteen inches long, seven inches of 

 which are included in the prehensile tail. There 

 are four toes on the fore-feet, two of which bear 

 stout claws; the hind feet have five toes. The fur 

 is of silky softness and its hue is foxy red above 

 and gray below, some of its hairs are grayish brown 

 at the base, others black, and tipped with yellow 

 brown. 



Though the Little Ant-eater is of rather clumsy 

 build, it still may be called a prepossessing creature, 

 especially distinguished by the beauty of its fur. 

 Its distribution is restricted. So far it has been 

 seen only in northern Brazil, Guiana and Peru, em- 

 bracing countries between the loth parallel of south 

 and the 6th parallel of north latitude. In moun- 

 tainous districts it sometimes ascends as high as 

 1, 800 feet above the sea. It is of rare occurrence 

 nearly everywhere. It inhabits, through choice only, 

 the densest woods. Being entirely nocturnal in 

 its habits, it sleeps through the day in trees. Its 

 movements are clumsy, slow and measured; but it 

 climbs fairly well, though very cautiously and al- 

 ways with the help of, its tail. Ants, Termites, Bees, 

 Wasps and their grubs constitute its food. 



Z\iz armabillO0. 



THIRD FAMILY: Dasypodid^. 



The Armadillos {Dasypodidce) are, like the Sloths, 

 the survivors of a once larger family. In compari- 

 son to some of their extinct relations they can at 

 best be considered only dwarfs. 



The Glyptodon attained the gigantic proportions 

 of a Rhinoceros; the relatives of some other spe- 

 cies were at least as large as aTn Ox, while the Arma- 

 dillos of the present time attain an extreme length 

 of sixty inches, or forty inches not including the tail. 

 Armadillos are clumsy creatures with elongated 

 head and muzzle, large, pig-like ears, a stout tail and 

 short legs and strong feet, armed with very stout 

 fossorial (digging) claws. They owe their name to 

 the peculiar nature of their external covering, re- 

 sembling a coat of mail; this coat is distinguished 

 by rectilinear belts or bands along the middle of 

 the back, and the scales differ from those of other 

 mammals by the arrangement of the scutae or shields. 

 The median zones, which serve to distinguish the 

 species, though they are not always of the same 

 number in the same species, consist of quadrangu- 

 lar, oblong scales or scutes, while the anterior and 

 posterior portions of its armor are formed of trans- 

 verse rows of four and six-cornered scales, inter- 

 spersed with others of small, irregular form. The 

 shield on the head is for the most part also com- 

 posed of five or six-cornered scutes. The animals 

 are protected with a buckler on the upper portions 

 of the body alone, however; the under surface be- 

 ing covered with a more or less coarse, bristly hair; 

 similar bristles also project between the shields. 

 Home and Habits AH Armadillos are natives of the 

 of Armadil- southern American belt extending 

 '°^- as far north as Mexico. They live 



in sparsely grown and sandy plains, in fields, and 

 are found only on the edges of woods, never enter- 

 ing the latter. Only in the breeding season do a 

 few of the same species consort; during the rest of 

 the year every Armadillo leads a solitary life, exhib- 

 iting no regard for any other living thing except 

 those that serve it as food. 



At d-usk the mail-clad creatures appear in front of 

 their deep, subterranean abodes and move about for 

 some time, proceedihg at a slow pace from one spot 

 to another. The level ground is their domain and 

 there they are at home as are but few other animals. 

 Slow and lazy as they appear when walking or mov- 

 ing, they are quick and nimble when they have to 

 burrow their way into the ground. When startled, 

 frightened or pursued, they have no better recourse 

 than to entrust themselves to the earth, in the truest 

 sense of that expression. And they are such ex- 

 perts at digging, that they sink very rapidly into 

 the ground before the gaze of the spectator. Their 

 extraordinary defenselessness would leave them 

 helpless in the face of enemies, if they were not 

 adepts at this method of escape. One kind of Ar- 

 madillo is able to roll itself into a ball, like the 

 Hedgehog, but does so only in the last extremity 

 when its retreat by burrowing is cut off, and recom- 

 mences its burrowing and hiding in the earth at the 

 first opportunity. In the water these animals, ap- 

 parently so unwieldy, also know how to take care of 

 themselves. 



The Armadillos are inoffensive, peaceable crea- 

 tures, with dull organs of sense and devoid of any 

 prominent intellectual faculty. Their method of 



