390 



THE TOOTHLESS ANIMALS. 



been found in the stomach of specimens of the ani- 

 mals which have been killed and dissected. 

 Movements and It is to be expected that their rov- 

 Propagation of ings are confined within narrow 

 Armadillos. limits. The usual gait of all Arma- 

 dillos is a slow walk and the greatest effort at 

 speed of which they are capable is a slightly accel- 

 erated shuffling, which, however, is sufficiently rapid 

 to enable them to distance a human being. Jump- 

 ing or turning around quickly are feats they can not 

 accomplish. The first is precluded by their stout- 

 ness, the latter by the close fit of the armor and 

 rigidity consequent thereon. So, when they wish to 

 accelerate their course to the utmost, they can only 

 proceed in a right line, sometimes slightly trending 

 to .an arc of a circle in direction and they would be 

 delivered into the hands of their enemies utterly 

 defenseless, if they had no other tricks at their comT 

 mand. What they lack in agility, they compensate 

 in great muscular power. This latter is particularly 

 shown in the celerity with which they cut their way 



BOLITA OR THBEE-BANDED ABUASILLO. One of the queerest of a peculiar family. The pic- 

 ture presents a view of a group of these oddities traversing the cactus-grown valleys of their native South America. 

 The three bands which give the animal its name are shown, and the manner in which it rolls itself into a ball when 

 it fears an enemy is also shown. ( Tolypeutes iricinctus,) 



into the earth, and that in places which a hoe 

 wielded by a strong man can pierce with difficulty, 

 as for instance the foot of Termites' hills. An adult 

 Tatu, which scents the approach of an enemy, needs 

 only three minutes to drive a tunnel, the length of 

 which considerably exceeds that of its body. As 

 soon as Tatus have dived deep enough into the earth 

 to conceal the entire body, the strongest man is in- 

 capable of pulling them out, by the tail. As their 

 holes are only just sufficiently large to admit of their 

 squeezing in, they need but to arch the back a little, 

 and the edges of the scales on the belts above and 

 the sharp claws beneath offer so effective a resist- 

 ance that nobody can overcome it. 



The female gives birth to from four to six young 

 in winter or spring and hides them carefully in her 

 burrow for some time. Probably they are not 

 suckled long, for they are soon seen running about 

 in the fields. As soon as they are somewhat grown, 

 each goes its own way, and the mother cares no 

 more for her offspring. 



Method of The Tatu is usually hunted on moon- 

 Hunting the lit nights. The sportsman arms him- 

 Armadillo. self with a stout club of hard wood, 

 pointed or conical at the end and hunts the Tatu by- 

 trailing with Dogs. If the Tatu perceives the Dogs 

 in time, it flees forthwith into its hole or digs an- 

 other as quickly as possible, rather than take refuge 

 in a strange one. If the Dogs overtake it, however, 

 before it gains its asylum, it is lost. As they can 

 not penetrate the carapace of the animal with their 

 teeth, they seize it and prevent its escape by holding 

 it with mouth and paws, until the sportsman arrives 

 and kills it with a blow on the head. Experienced 

 Dogs will overturn the running Tatu with their noses, 

 and attack it from beneath, and as soon as they 

 succeed in doing so, they literally tear it to pieces, 

 the armor crackling between their teeth after the 

 manner of crushed egg-shells. A Tatu in its hole is 

 always secure from Dogs, for their efforts to dis- 

 lodge it by digging are of no avail. When it is 

 seized by the Dogs, it never defends itself in any 



way, though it undoubted- 

 ly could inflict severe in- 

 juries with its claws. 



All Armadillos are held 

 in detestation by the South 

 Americans, because they 

 are the cause of many ac- 

 cidents. The bold riders 

 of the plains, who spend 

 the greater part of their 

 lives on horseback, are oc- 

 casionally brought to grief 

 by plunging into the sub- 

 terranean workings of the 

 Armadillos. A Horse hur- 

 rying on at a gallop, sud- 

 denly stepping into a hole, 

 is likely to injure both it- 

 self and its rider. There- 

 fore the owners of farms 

 and plantations persecute 

 the poor armor-bearers in 

 the most ruthless and cruel 

 manner. Besides having 

 Man for their arch enemy, 

 they are hunted down by 

 the larger Felidae, the Bra- 

 zilian Wolf and the Jackal 

 Fox. 

 Tatus are rarely domesticated and 

 reared in Paraguay. They are much 

 too tiresome as companions, and 



Armadillos Un- 

 fit for Domes- 

 tication. 



also annoy their keeper too much by their digging 

 propensities to become favorites as domestic pets, 

 The Armadillos, which are frequently brought to 

 Europe and in some zoological gardens are quar- 

 tered together with the Monkeys, are fed on worms, 

 insects, grubs, and raw and cooked meat, the latter 

 being fed to them in small pieces, as they can bite 

 nothing from large morsels. They take the food 

 with their lips or their tongue, the latter organ being 

 capable of much extension. If the care bestowed 

 on them is in any way adequate, they preserve their 

 health for years, serve the Monkeys as beasts of 

 burden or playmates, either willingly or involunta- 

 rily, endure everything, become used to taking walks 

 by day and may even bear young. Young Armadil- 

 los, born in the London zoological garden, were 

 blind at birth and their soft skin showed all the fur- 

 rows and divisions of the adult animal. 



