My Baüy Ant-Eater. 
■v<^ay, I was plainly convinced that his sense of sight must be uncommonly 
weak. His growling was never more vexed than when he really did hit 
against an object. This species must be able to climb e'qually as well as 
the smaller ant-eater 3Iyrmc'cophaga tctradactijla, for our prisoner not 
only undertook excursions on level ground, but also extended them to 
the house-posts and walls, up which he clambered with the greatest ease. 
iWere he quiet for a while, he suddenly raised himself on his hind legs, 
like bears do, sniffed around in the air, and then, if he found nothing 
suspicious, lay down again. A wateri«h fluid constantly trickled from 
the snout and nose. It was only extremiiely rarely that I saAV him 
drink. We fed him with termites which the Indians gathercid in the 
savannah. The rapidity Avith which he stuck his long sticky t;)ngue into 
the heap, covered it with insects, and Avithdrew it, .^et me wondering as 
to how so large an animal could satisfy his hunger with such small fry. 
At the same time that he swallowed the ants lie engulfed a large quantity 
of the building material of the nest. Just as readily as he devoured the 
termitos he gorged fish chopped up fine. My brother, on his previous 
jimrney, had for a long time fed the young specimens with the latter. 
As we intended returning to Tenette after discovering the source of the 
Takutu, I left ray prisoner here to be looked after, with the idea of tak- 
ing him with me to Pirara and Denierara, and despatching him later on 
to Berlin. Tmforfunntely I found him dead on our return: the Indians 
luul probably let him starve. 
85. Having denied the ant-bear teeth foi' weapons, Kature has sup- 
plied him with a not less dangerous means of defence in huge claws and 
extraordinary muscular strength of fore-feet. Even in fighting with the 
jaguar he will oft«n come off victor, and the Indians assured us that 
Ihey had not only found the carnivore by itself with rip])ed-up body, 
but also both combatants dead at the same time. The hunter will never 
approach an ant-bear shot with the poisoned arrow until he is convinced 
of the venom having exercised its full powers.* The female throws 
annually but one cub which, when a few davs old, she carries on her 
back, whither also, in times of danger, the little chap makes its escape. 
The youngster accompanies its mother usually for a year, when it is 
supplanted by a new arrival and is th^^n free to roam. 
80. As is known, the ant-bear saunters along on the outer side of 
the soles of the fore-feet with the claws dra^^'n together underneath; he 
does not retract them like the cat-tribe, and hence cannot run flat-footed. 
At the root of the tongue are the two large glands that supply it with 
tbe viscid liquid mentioned (Sect. Si). AVhile in a fluid state this secre- 
tion is extraordinarily sticky, but when dry it can be rubbed to powder 
between the fingers. 
87. The big house that received us being still occupied by its owners, 
the observation of their ways and doings supplied me with plenty of 
variety during my sickness. In their manner of living the Wapisianas 
differ hardly at all from the other tribes with which I had become 
See the story of Tiger and Anteater in EotJi's Animism and Folk-lore, otc (Ed.) 
