NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK. 



113 



GREAT ANT-EATER. 



points by bony armor, and remarkably well protected from 

 the teeth of predatory animals. 



The Great Ant-Eater, {Myrmecophaga jubata). — This is a 

 very remarkable animal, and usually is to be found alive in 

 the Small-Mammal House. Its anatomical peculiarities are 

 apparent at a glance. Its toothless jaws are enormously 

 elongated, and taper to a rounded point, where the mouth 

 opens as a narrow slit, scarcely large enough to admit the 

 large end of a lead pencil. Its front claws are large and 

 strong, for use in tearing open ant-hills and decayed logs ; 

 and the creature walks upon them as if club-footed. Its 

 tail is long and thick, and bears a luxuriant brush, of coarse, 

 wavy hair more than a foot long. The negroes of British 

 Guiana gravely inform travellers that the Ant-Eater uses 

 his bushy tail as a broom, with which he sweeps up ants in 

 order to devour them wholesale. 



As may be inferred from the total absence of teeth, this 

 strange creature lives chiefly upon crawling insects. In de- 

 vouring the dreadful ants, which in a South American forest 

 often make life a burden, it helps to preserve the balance 

 of Nature. In captivity the food of this animal consists of 

 milk, raw eggs and ground meat. In taking its food it 

 thrusts out from four to eight inches of round, wormlike 

 tongue, which contrary to many published statements, is 

 not covered with sticky saliva. 



