OEDEE OF EDENTATA. 



319 



able, tliat it can defend itself successfully against the ferocious 

 Jaguar, which it either hugs, like a bear, or tears to pieces with 

 its formidable claws. 



It is nocturnal, solitary, and listless in its habits, and delights 

 in damp forests and marshy savannahs, in which its insect food 

 is most abundant. The female only produces a single young 

 one at a time, which she constantly carries on her back. 



Fig. 125.— Great Ant-eater, or Ant Bear (M.jubata, Linn.) 



In the gardens of the Zoological Society of London, which was 

 in possession of two specimens, they were fed on bread, soaked 

 in milk, and eggs ; but it became certain that they had also a 

 taste for blood, as they were one day noticed sucking the flesh of 

 a rabbit which had been given them. 



There are two other species of the Ant-eater, which live more 

 or less on trees, and enjoy, on this account, one of the character- 

 istics which are peculiar to American Monkeys — that of grasping 

 branches firmly with the tail, a portion of which is bare of 



