302 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 
tried to climb the tree, but was driven back by swarms of stinging ants; the poor little 
fellow slid down in a sad predicament, and plunged headlong into the brook to free himself.” - 
On another occasion the same writer tells us he ‘‘saw a sloth swimming across a river at 
a place where it was 300 yards broad. I believe it is not generally known that this animal 
takes to the water. Our men caught the beast, cooked and ate him.” 
In past ages gigantic ground-sloths roamed over South America. The largest of these, the 
Megatherium, rivalled the elephant in size. Descendants of these giants appear to have lingered 
on till comparatively recent times, as witness the wonderful discovery by Moreno, made during 
the year of 1900, in a cave in Patagonia. This was nothing less than a skull and a large 
piece of the hide of one of these monsters in a wonderful state of preservation, showing 
indeed undoubted traces of blood and sinew. That the hide was removed by human hands 
there can be no doubt, for it was ro//ed up and turned inside-out. Immediately after this 
discovery was announced, an expedition was dispatched from England to hunt, not so much 
for more remains, but for the animal itself. Time will show whether these efforts will prove 
successful. 
_ THE ANT-EATERS 
Unlike as the ant-eaters are to the sloths, they are nevertheless very closely related thereto. 
This unlikeness at the present day is so great that, were it not for ‘ missing-links” in the 
shape of fossils, we should probably never have discovered the relationship. The head of the 
typical ant-eaters has been drawn out into a long tubular muzzle, at the end of which is a tiny 
mouth just big enough to permit the exit of a long worm-like tongue, covered with a sticky 
saliva. This tongue is thrust out with great rapidity amongst the hosts of ants and termites 
and their larve, on which they prey. These victims are captured by breaking open their nests. 
At once all the active inhabitants swarm up to the breach, and are instantaneously swept away 
by the remorseless tongue. The jaws of the ant-eaters are entirely toothless, and the eyes atid 
ears are very small. 
The largest species of ant-eater is about 4 feet long. It lives entirely upon the ground. 
Generally speaking, it is a harmless creature; but at times, when cornered, it will fight 
furiously, sitting up on its 
hind legs and hugging its 
foe in its powerful arms. 
Bates, the traveler- 
naturalist, relates an 
instance in which a dog 
used in hunting the GREAT 
ANT-EATER was caught in 
its grip and killed. The 
tail of this large species 
is covered with very long 
hair, forming an immense 
brush. The claw on the 
third toe of each fore limb 
, is of great size, and used 
| for breaking open ants’ and 
ye | other insects’ nests. 
es But besides the great 
iG “ee..| ground ant-eater there are 
n some tree-haunting species. 
These have a shorter muzzle, 
THE GREAT ANT-EATER and short hair on the tail, 
In walking the ant-eater turns its toes inwards, so that the claws turn upwards and inwards . . . 
the weight of the body being borne by a horny pad on the fifth toe, and the balls of the third aud which is used, as with 
fourth toes the spider monkeys, as a 
