472 
VERTEBRATA. 
Genus MYRMECOPHAGA : Myrmecophaga. — Of this there is a single species, which is the 
largest and most remarkable of the family, the Great Ant-Eater, or Tamanoir, M.juhata, some- 
times called the Ant-Bear, an inhabitant of most of the tropical parts of South America eastward 
of the Andes, although apparently rather scarce everywhere. It is a large animal, a full-grown 
specimen measuring four feet and a half in length from the snout to the root of the tail, which in 
its turn measures nearly three feet in length. It is a most singular creature in its appearance. Its 
head is produced into a long snout covered with skin, which only leaves a very small opening or 
hole at the tip for the protrusion of the tongue ; its ears are very small ; its legs are rather long, 
and excessively stout, especially the anterior pair, the long powerful claws of which, four in num- 
ber, are turned inward against the naked soles, so that the creature walks upon its knuckles. The 
hind-feet are furnished with a broad sole, and it is probably from this circumstance that it has 
been compared to a bear. The body is covered with harsh bristly hairs, which attain an immense 
length on the tail, from which they hang down perpendicularly so as to touch the ground. The 
prevailing color is grayish-brown, a broad black band, bordered with white, passing over each 
shoulder. When reposing, the Ant-Eater covers himself completely with his bushy tail, which 
gives the sleeping animal very much the appearance of a heap of dried grass, and he is said to 
resort to the same natural umbrella in case of a shower of rain ; according to Mr. Wallace, the 
Indians are so well aware of this that when they meet with an Ant-Eater they shake the leaves 
to produce a sound like that of rain, and then knock him on the head while he is taken up with 
sheltering himself from the expected shower. 
The habits of the Great Ant-Bear are slothful and solitary ; the greater part of his hfe is con- 
sumed in sleeping, notwithstanding which he is never fat, and rarely even in good condition. 
When about to sleep, he lies upon one side, conceals his long snout in the ftir of the breast, locks 
the hind and fore-claws into one another, so as to cover the head and belly, and turns his long 
bushy tail over the whole body in such a manner as to protect it from the too powerful rays of 
the sun. The female bears but a single young one at a birth, which attaches itself to her back, 
and is carried about with her wherever she goes, rarely quitting her, even for a year after it has 
acquired suflicient strength to walk and provide for itself. This unprolific constitution, and the 
tardy growth of the young, account for the comparative rarity of these animals, which are said to 
be seldom seen, even in their native regions. The female has only two mammae, situated on the 
breast, like those of apes, monkeys, and bats. 
In its natural state the Ant-Bear lives exclusively upon ants, to procure which it opens their 
hills with its powerful crooked claws, and at the moment that the insects, according to their na- 
ture, flock from all quarters to defend their dwellings, draws over them his long flexible tongue, 
covered with glutinous saliva, to which they consequently adhere ; and so quickly does he repeat 
this operation, that we are assured he will thus project his tongue and draw it in again covered 
with insects twice in a second. He never actually introduces it into the holes or breaches which 
he makes in the hills themselves, but only draws it lightly over the swarms of insects which issue 
forth alarmed by his attack. "It seems almost incredible," says Azara, "that so robust and pow- 
erful an animal can procure sufficient sustenance from ants alone; but this circumstance has 
nothing strange in it for those who are acquainted with the tropical parts of America, and who 
have seen the enormous multitudes of these insects, which swarm in all parts of the country, to 
that degree that their hills often almost touch one another for miles together." The same author 
informs us that domestic Ant-Bears were occasionally kept by different persons in Paraguay, and 
that they had even been sent alive to Spain, being fed upon bread and milk, mixed with morsels 
of flesh minced very small. Like all animals which live upon insects, they are capable of sus- 
taining a total deprivation of nourishment for an almost incredible time. 
This strange animal is found in all the warm and tropical parts of South America, from Colom- 
bia to Paraguay, and from the shores of the Atlantic to the foot of the Andes. His favorite re- 
sorts are the low swampy savannahs, along the banks of rivers and stagnant ponds ; he also fre- 
quents the humid forests, but never climbs trees, as reported by Bufibn on the authority of Laborde. 
His pace is slow, heavy, and vacillating ; his head is carried low, as if he smelled the earth at 
every step, while his long shaggy tail, drooping behind him, sweeps the earth on either side. 
