THE GREAT ANT-EATER.

Bush Advocate, Volume V, Issue 354, 16 August 1890, Page 8

THE GREAT ANT-EATER.

tSATTODAY REVIEW.) Tho great ant-eater [Myrmeeophaga juh'ita) is far too well known to need any detailed description here. It is a. most uneannylo?king creature ; its curious little bead, with small eyes and ears, and extraordinarily long snout, ending in a diminutive mouth ; its great fore-limbs, armed with enormou? claws, which it carries folded in upon its palms ; and its huge, bushy tail giving it an odd appearance of being all out of proportion. This odd appearance, indeed, no doubt gave rise to the extraordinary stories that were told of it by the earlier travellers and writers — euoh, for example, aa that it was in the habit of climbing trees in search of its food, a Btory which aroused the wrath of ! the late Charles Waterton, who attacked both the etory and its authori with his uaual fierceness." This author also strongly objected to "tb« remark that tho long visage of this most singular quadruped is out of proportion and unsightly," stating that he "considered it to be quito in unison with the rest of the body, and admirably adapted to the support of life j" adding, 4< What could the ant-bear do without ita tremendous olawa and cylinder-shaped snout, ao tough as to enable it to perforate huge nesta of ants, which in certain districts of Southern America appear more like the., roofs of Chineso temples than tho work and habitations of insignificant little insects ?" The ant-eater'B method of obtaining its foo:l is suid to be as follows --Having torn open an ant-hill with its powerful claws, it draws its enormously long flexible tongue", which is eoYered with a glutinous saliva, I over the masses of intscijttt which rush out in defence of their homes, with the result that numbers of them adhere to it, and are thus drawn into the animal's mouth ; and co quickly is this opei'ation repeated, that we ore assured that tho tongue is put out-, and drawn in again covered with insects, twioo in a second. Quaint Dr. Brookes describes tho process as follows > — " He (the ant-eater) lives npon ants, and when he has found out one of their nests, he opens the upper part of it with his claws, that ho may have room to put in his snout aud. tongue. This is besmeared with a slimy liqnor, nud.ia soon covered with ants, which, when he finds, ho draws it into his mouth and swallows them. Ho repeats this practice as long as t'uero aro any remaining, or ut leaßfc as lonir as they will ran into the same Bnare. When he i* hungry egain, he will go in quest of another nest." THK TOXGUB IS A WONDERFUL OTKiAX, much longer than the head, round, ■ and capable of being projected sixteen or eighteen inches ; in appearance it is very much' like an tn->rmous worm; when at rest it i* bent backwards in the mouth, oz 1 , as Dr. Brookes has it, " ho is obliged to bend part of it baok when he kcop3 it within his mouth, for it is not lonar enough to hold ifc without this artifice." When the animal at the Zoo is fed, this ourious tougue is most noticeable sweeping round the pan in which the food is contained in a most extraordiuaiy manner. Don Felix d'Azara, who wrote what is still probably the best account of this animal and its habits, nays, " It seams almost incredible that so robust und powerful'! au animal can procure sufficient Niistenonce from ants alone ; but this circumstance has nothing strange in it for thewo wiio aro acquainted with tho tropical parts of America, and who have seen the enormous multitudes of these 111*3014 which trwa,rm in nil parts of the country to that degree that their hills often almost touch o:i:j another for miles together." The autetiter is described fis being on extremely stupid, glow -moving animal, by no means given to attacking its neighboura, but when hard pressed it ib suid to sit up on its hind quarters like a bear nnd defend it3olt' with its poworful cliiwo. Apropos of this habit, we have heanl tho following* story <>i' an eater at tho Zoo, and, though wo caunot vouch for its scientific accuracy, it has a moral, and will, we think, bear repetition. A man — one of tho clasß so well kuown to, and hated by, tho keepers* whose chief interest in visiting tho menagerie appeal's to bo to torment tho unfoviuuafco animals — standing by tho ant-eater's cage was heard, to remark that this was the sort of animal he liked, aa it oould not bite. He then proceeded to poke it with his new silk umbrella, on which tho ant-enter retaliated by quiotly taking hold of that weapon with its claws, with tho result that the unfortunate owner was left in possession of the f >ame, while the animal carried oft' tho fcilk as a trophy of well-earned victory over its enemy. Not only is it a stupid and slow-moving animal, but it is also an extremely sleepy one.; and when preparing for sleep it makes a very good though ourious uso of its enormous tail, as it lies down on one side, rolls itself into as small a compass as possible, and turns the tail over its body so as to completely cOvor it.