AND DESERTS 139 



in Australia by small marsupials of similar habit, 

 notably by Antechinomys laniger, a little jerboa-like 

 animal with long hind-legs, a bushy tail, and the habit 

 of progressing by jumps. Again, the banded ant-eater 

 {Myrmecohius fasciatus) shows the long extensile tongue 

 common to ant-eating forms, and is found in sandy 

 regions where ant-hills occur. 



Among the inhabitants of savana regions, mention 

 must be made of the running birds, which are specially 

 adapted to these districts. The adaptations are well 

 seen in the African ostrich (Struthio), distributed 

 throughout Africa wherever the open sandy regions 

 suitable to its habits occur, and found also in Syria, 

 Arabia, and Mesopotamia. The great length of the 

 legs and of the neck gives the animals a wide range of 

 vision (cf. giraffe), the length of the hind-legs and the 

 reduction of the number of toes to two gives them 

 speed (cf. again the giraffe). Like the large antelopes 

 with which the ostriches associate in the southern parts 

 of Africa, the ostrich is a social animal, the gregarious 

 habit, as in the ungulates, being associated with poly- 

 gamy. The males are bigger and stronger than the 

 females, and use their hind-legs as weapons when 

 attacked. The young are active almost immediately 

 after hatching, again recalling the precocious young of 

 the ungulates of the steppes and savanas. Like many 

 savana animals, ostriches can go without water for a pro- 

 longed period, but they drink freely if water is available. 



In South America the place of the ostrich is taken 

 by the rhea, which has three toes instead of two, and 

 some other structural differences. The habits are some- 

 what similar. The birds are chiefly found on the 

 pampas, which correspond rather to steppe regions 

 than to savanas in the strict sense. 



