358 
THE STORY OF THE ANT-EATER . 
except during the pairing-season, a solitary existence; and it is likewise 
nocturnal, sleeping during the day among the boughs. Its movements are 
generally slow and deliberate; but when so- disposed, it can climb quickly, 
always with the aid of the tail. Ants, termites, bees, wasps and their larvae 
are its food. When it has captured a large insect, it sits up on its haunches 
like a squirrel, and conveys the prey to its mouth with its paws. I had one 
of these ant-eaters brought to' me which had been captured while slumbering 
in a hollow tree. I kept it in the house for twenty-four hours, where it re¬ 
mained nearly all the time without motion, except when irritated, in which 
case it reared itself on its hind-legs from the back of a chair, to which it 
clung, and clawed out with its fore-paws like a cat. Its manner of clinging 
with its cla ws, and the sluggishness of its motions, gave it a great resemblance 
to a sloth. It uttered no sound, and remained all night on the spot where I 
had placed it in the morning. The next day I put it on a tree in the open air, 
and at night it escaped. 
Usually the ant-eater is a harmless, inoffensive creature, which may be 
driven in almost any direction so* long as it is not pressed too* hard. If, how¬ 
ever, driven to close quarters, it turns furiously on its assailants, whom it at¬ 
tacks by hugging with its immensely muscular arms. It has been asserted, 
on the authority of the natives, that the ant-eater will even face and attack 
the jaguar; and although the truth of this statement was denied by the 
traveler Azara, a later explorer believes that it may be founded on fact. 
Like the sloths, ant-eaters are exceedingly difficult to' kill, their skin being 
so tough that an ordinary small hunting-knife will make no impression on 
it, while their skulls may be battered with a heavy stone without producing 
any other effect than temporarily stunning the creatures. 
The porcupine ant-eater is found in several parts of Australia, where it is 
popularly called the hedgehog', on account of the hedgehog-like spines with 
which the body is so thickly covered, and its custom of rolling itself up when 
alarmed. A number of coarse hairs ‘'are intermingled with the spines, and 
the head is devoid of these weapons. The head is strangely lengthened, in 
a manner somewhat similar to' that of the ant-eater, and there are no* teeth of 
any kind in the jaws. 
The food consists of ants and other insects, which it gathers into' its mouth 
by means of the long extensile tongue. It is a burrowing animal, and is 
therefore furnished with limbs and claws of proportionate strength. Indeed, 
one who kept one of these animals for some time, considers it as the strongest 
quadruped in existence in proportion to> its size. On moderately soft ground 
