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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



pecially on the tail, and this appendage lacks 

 the plumelike appearance observed in other 

 skunks. The nose is prolonged into a distinct 

 "snout," naked on the top and sides and evi- 

 dently used for rooting in the earth after the 

 manner of a pig. In addition, the front feet 

 are armed with long, heavy claws, and the front 

 legs and shoulders are provided with a strong 

 muscular development for digging, as in a bad- 

 ger. This likeness has led to the use in some 

 places of the appropriate name "badger skunk" 

 for these animals. The single white stripe along 

 the back, and including the tail, is a common 

 pattern with these skunks, but this marking is 

 considerably varied, as in the common species. 

 The hog-nosed skunks are the only repre- 

 sentatives of the skunk tribe in South America, 

 where various species occupy a large part of 

 the continent. They appear to form a South 

 American group of mammals which has ex- 

 tended its range northward through Central 

 America, Mexico, and across the border of the 

 United States to central Texas, New Mexico, 

 and Arizona. In Mexico they range from sea- 

 level to above 10,000 feet altitude on the moun- 

 tains of the interior. 



The hair on these skunks is coarse and harsh, 

 lacking the qualities which render the coats of 

 their northern relatives so valuable. Where 

 their range coincides with that of the common 

 skunks, the local distribution of the two is 

 practically the same. They live along the bot- 

 tom-lands of watercourses, where vegetation is 

 abundant and the supply of food most plentiful, 

 or in canyons and on rocky mountain slopes. 



For shelter they dig their own burrows, usually 

 in a bank, or under a rock, or the roots of a 

 tree, but do not hesitate to take possession of 

 the deserted burrows of other animals, or of 

 natural cavities among the rocks. Owing to 

 their strictly nocturnal habits, they are much 

 less frequently seen than the common skunks, 

 even in localities where they are numerous. In 

 fact it is only within the last few years that 

 their presence in many parts of the southwest- 

 ern border has become known. 



Although both the little spotted and common 

 skunks live mainly on insects, the hog-nosed 

 skunks are even more insectivorous in their 

 feeding habits. The bare snout appears to be 

 used constantly for the purpose of rooting out 

 beetles, grubs, and larvae of various kinds from 

 the ground. 



On the highlands of Mexico I have many 

 times camped in localities where patches of 

 ground were rooted up nightly by these skunks 

 to a depth of two or three inches as thoroughly 

 as might' have been done by small pigs. In 

 such places I repeatedly failed to capture them 

 by traps baited with meat, the insects and grubs 

 they were finding apparently being more at- 

 tractive food. I have had similar failures in 

 trapping for coyotes with meat bait in localities 

 where they were feeding fat on swarms of 

 large beetles and crickets. The persistence with 

 which the hog-nosed skunks hunt insects ren- 

 ders them a valuable aid to farmers. 



In addition to grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, 



flies, grubs, and other larvae, and many other 

 insects, they are known to eat wood rats, miee, 

 and the small fruit of cactuses and other plants. 

 The stomach of one of these skunks examined 

 in Texas contained about 400 beetles. 



One Texas naturalist writes that he has lost 

 a number of young kids which had their noses 

 bitten off, and in one instance caught one of 

 these skunks mutilating a kid in this manner. 

 He also states that they pull down and eat corn 

 when it is in the "roasting-car" stage. 



Far less is known concerning the habits of 

 hog-nosed skunks than of the other species of 

 these animals. The number of young appears 

 to be small, judging from the record of a single 

 embryo found in one animal and in another 

 instance of two young found in a nest located 

 in a hollow stump. They have a curiously 

 stupid, sluggish manner and have even less 

 vivacity than the somewhat sedate common 

 skunk. No use is made of their skins in this 

 country or in Mexico, but the gigantic natives 

 of Patagonia make robes of them which are 

 worn like great cloaks. 



THE NINE-BANDED ARMADILLO 

 (Dasypus novemcincta and its relatives) 



(For illustration, see page 457) 



Armadillos are distinguished from other 

 mammals by having the nearly, or quite, hair- 

 less skin developed into a bony armor cover- 

 ing the upperparts of the head and body and 

 all of the tail. They lack teeth in the front of 

 both upper and lower jaws, and are members 

 of the group of toothless animals which in- 

 cludes the ant-eaters. The insects they feed on 

 are licked up by the sticky surface of their 

 extensile tongues. 



In the remote past many species of arma- 

 dillos, some of gigantic size, roamed the plains 

 of South America, and a number of small 

 species still exist there. These animals are 

 peculiar to America and have their center of 

 abundance in the southern continent. 



The nine-banded species ranges over an 

 enormous territory and is subdivided into a 

 number of geographic races, living from south- 

 ern Texas through Mexico and Central Amer- 

 ica to Argentina. In Mexico its vertical dis- 

 tribution extends from sea-level up to an alti- 

 tude of about 10,000 feet on the mountains of 

 the interior. Like the hog-nosed skunk, it no 

 doubt originated as a member of the South 

 American fauna and has spread northward to 

 its present limits. It is one of the larger of 

 the living representatives of this curious group 

 of animals and reaches a weight of from twelve 

 to fifteen pounds. 



As might be surmised from its appearance, 

 the armadillo is a stupid animal, living a mo- 

 notonous life of restricted activities. Its sight 

 and hearing are poor, and the armored skin 

 gives it a stiff-legged gait and immobile body. 

 From these characteristics, combined with the 

 small head hung low on a short neck, it has in 

 life an odd resemblance in both form and 



