CHAPTER XXXVI 
Toothless Ant-Eaters 
N OW let us look at a most curious group of animals, which are 
called Edentates, — i. e., “toothless,”—from the fact that they 
possess no front teeth. 
The Long-tailed Manis. —One of these mail-covered animals 
is the long-tailed manis, of Africa, which is covered with a number 
of sharply-pointed horny plates, which almost exactly resemble the 
scale armor of olden times. These plates overlap one another just 
like the slates upon the roof of a house, and lie with their points 
LONG-TAILED MANIS 
directed towards the tail, each projecting for some little distance 
over those beneath it. Unlike the scale armor, they can be used as 
weapons of offense as well as defense, for, if menaced by a powerful 
foe, the manis rolls himself into a ball, just like the hedgehog, so 
that the sharp and keen-edged plates project from the body, and 
severely wound any animal which is foolish enough to meddle with 
them. Indeed, when thus rolled up, the manis is safe from the attacks 
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