CHAPTER XI 
THE ORDER OF TOOTHLESS MAMMALS 
EDENTA TA 
Near the bottom of the scale of terrestrial warm-blooded quadrupeds, is found the Order 
Edentata, so called because several of its members are toothless, and others are nearly so. It 
contains perhaps a greater proportion of odd and remarkable forms than any other Order, 
and all are found on the American continent. Many of them are so wonderful in form and habit 
that they well repay the effort necessary to make their acquaintance. The species fall into 
three Families, as follows: 
FAMILIES. 
i Armadillos, 
ORDER / 
EDENTATA. ( Ant _ EaterS) 
y Sloths, . . 
. . . DAS-Y-POD'I-DAE, . . . 
. . . M YR-M E-CO-PH A G’l-DA E, 
. . . BRAD-Y-POD’ I-DAE, . . 
EXAMPLES. 
! Nine-Banded Armadillo. 
Six-Banded Armadillo. 
Three-Banded Armadillo. 
Giant Armadillo. 
3 Great Ant-Eater. 
\ Tamandua. 
j Three-Toed Sloth. 
I Two-Toed Sloth. 
THE ARMADILLO FAMILY. 
Dasypodidae. 
With a few exceptions, armadillos are found 
only in South America. The southern half of 
that continent was once the home of a won- 
derful array of gigantic animals belonging to 
this Order. In the La Plata Museum of Nat- 
ural History is a procession from the Past. It 
is a long row of earth-colored, dome-like shells 
of great thickness, some of them as large as 
small hogsheads, and curiously ornamented by 
a scalloped lower edge. Some are provided with 
huge tails that are studded with many big, pointed 
knobs, called tubercles. These curious objects 
are the remains of gigantic armadillos, now 
extinct, called Glyp'to-dons, which once 
roamed over the pampas of South America. 1 
In many American museums, casts of the re- 
mains of one of these weird creatures may be 
seen in what is known as the “Ward Casts of 
1 A large Glyptodont, 7 feet long, has recently 
been discovered in Texas, and described by Professor 
H. F. Osborn as Glyptotherium texanum. 
Fossils.” The shell of the Glyptodon copied in 
plaster by Professor Ward is a nearly perfect 
dome, 5+ feet long, 4 feet wide and 40 inches high. 
With but one exception, the armadillo of 
to-day is a small creature, finding shelter in 
burrows which it digs for itself in the earth. Its 
movements are nervous and spasmodic, and 
for a short distance it scurries over the ground 
quite rapidly, running on the ends of its claws, 
and dodging quite skilfully. Its legs are so 
short, however, it cannot run far, and when 
about to be overtaken by a dangerous enemy, it 
halts, and burrows in the ground with wonderful 
rapidity. It is not equipped for fighting, for it 
has no front teeth. Its claws are fit only for 
digging, and since it cannot climb trees, it pre- 
fers to live in burrows, on open prairies. 
But Nature has not left these creatures with- 
out protection from their numerous enemies- 
The body is incased in a hard shell, composed 
of small plates of bone very cunningly joined 
together, which covers every portion save the 
breast and abdomen. 
The head is protected by a plate placed on its 
upper surface, and the tail is incased in a chain 
