WILD ANIMALS IN CAPTIVITY 
this country in good health. To obtain these creatures 
in the first instance is a task of great difficulty, as they 
have to be dug out of the earth, and, in many instances, 
after many days’ toil, the hunters fail to capture them un- 
injured, and frequently the dogs employed in the pursuit 
are killed, or so mutilated that they are obliged to be 
destroyed ; and it not unfrequently happens that after the 
animal is caught, it is so wild and ill-tempered, that it 
refuses all kind of food, and dies in a few days. The 
mode of attack is by striking with its fore- feet, the claws 
of which are long and powerful, with sharp cutting edges, 
and are capable of inflicting very dangerous wounds upon 
any animal Avithin reach. The ant-bear, although a heavy 
animal, strong, and doubtless when enraged a very awkward 
customer for a dog or other enemy to attack, is a trifle 
when compared with the more powerful and active ant- 
eater of South America {Myrmecopliaga julata), whose 
enormous strength renders its attack so much to be feared 
by the Indian hunters, whose dogs are frequently killed 
by this beast. The determined courage displayed by this 
shaggy brute when it attacks a man or other animal has 
been more than once witnessed by the writer, who upon 
one occasion narrowly escaped being very severely handled 
by a full-grown adult male of this species. The mode of 
attack is by a sudden rush upon you ; his spiny hairs all 
erect, and the little fierce eyes protruding above his long 
and tapering snout, he utters at the same instant a loud, 
savage, and half choking, roaring bark, and strikes with 
wonderful swiftness at the object with his powerful fore- 
foot ; the strong hooked claws bringing the animal thus 
caught between his fore -legs, and instantly tearing open 
the abdomen or lower parts of the body with his incredibly 
sharp hooks, the points of which are so well preserved by 
never coming in contact with the ground while the animal 
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