ANT-EATERS.
The Great Ant-Bear--His Way of Licking up Termites--His Formidable
Weapons--A Perfect Forest Vagabond--His Peculiar Manner of
Walking--The Smaller Ant-Eaters--The Manides--The African Aard
Vark--The Armadillos--The Porcupine Ant-Eater of Australia.
The great Ant-bear is undoubtedly one of the most extraordinary
denizens of the wilds of South America, for that a powerful animal,
measuring above six feet from the snout to the end of the tail, should
live exclusively on ants, seems scarcely less remarkable than that the
whale nourishes his enormous body with minute pteropods and medusæ. The
vast mouth of the leviathan of the seas has been most admirably adapted
to his peculiar food, and it was not in vain that Nature gave such
colossal dimensions to his head, as it was necessary to find room for
a gigantic straining apparatus, in which, on rejecting the engulphed
water, thousands upon thousands of his tiny prey might remain
entangled; but the ant-bear has been no less wonderfully armed for the
capture of the minute animals on which he feeds, and if, on considering
the use for which it was ordained, we become reconciled to the seeming
disproportion of the whale’s jaws, the small and elongated, snout-like
head of the ant-bear will also appear less uncouthly formed when we
reflect that it is in exact accordance with the wants of the animal.
For here no deep cavity was required for the reception of two rows of
powerful teeth, as in most other quadrupeds, but a convenient furrow
for a long and extensile tongue--the use of which will immediately
become apparent on following the animal into the Brazilian campos,
where, as we have seen in a former chapter, the wonderful cities of the
white ant are dispersed over the plains in such incalculable numbers.
Approaching one of these structures, the ant-bear strikes a hole
through its wall of clay, with his powerful crooked claws, and as the
ants issue forth by thousands to resent the insult, stretches out his
tongue for their reception. Their furious legions, eager for revenge,
immediately rush upon it, and vainly endeavouring to pierce its thick
skin with their mandibles, remain sticking to the glutinous liquid
with which it is lubricated from two very large glands situated below
its root. When sufficiently charged with prey, the ant-bear suddenly
withdraws his tongue and swallows all the insects.
Without swiftness to enable him to escape from his enemies, for man
is superior to him in speed; without teeth, the possession of which
would assist him in self-defence; without the power of burrowing in the
ground, by which he might conceal himself from his pursuers; without a
cave to retire to, the ant-bear still ranges through the wilderness in
perfect safety, and fears neither the boa nor the jaguar, for he has
full reliance on his powerful fore-legs and their tremendous claws.
Richard Schomburgh had an opportunity of witnessing a young ant-bear
make use of these formidable weapons. On the enemy’s approach it
assumed the defensive, but in such a manner as to make the boldest
aggressor pause, for, resting on its left fore-foot, it struck out
so desperately with its right paw as would undoubtedly have torn off
the flesh of any one that came in contact with its claws. Attacked
from behind, it wheeled with the rapidity of lightning, and on being
assailed from several quarters at once, threw itself on its back, and
desperately fighting with its fore-legs, uttered at the same time
an angry growl of defiance. In fact the ant-bear is so formidable
an opponent that he is said not unfrequently to vanquish even the
jaguar, the lord of the American forests, for the latter is often found
swimming in his blood, with ripped-up bowels, a wound which, of all the
beasts of the wilderness, the claws of the ant-bear are alone able to
inflict.
On seizing an animal with these powerful weapons, he hugs it close to
his body, and keeps it there till it dies through pressure or hunger.
Nor does the ant-bear, in the meantime, suffer much from want of
aliment, as it is a well known fact that he can remain longer without
food than perhaps any other quadruped, so that there is very little
chance indeed of a weaker animal’s escaping from his clutches.
Peaceable and harmless, the ant-bear when unprovoked never thinks of
attacking any other creature; and as his interests and pursuits do not
interfere with those of the more formidable denizens of the wilderness,
he would, without doubt, attain a good old age, and be allowed to die
in peace, if, unfortunately for him, his delicate flesh did not provoke
the attacks of the large carnivora and man. To be sure, the Indian
fears his claws, and never ventures to approach the wounded ant-bear
until he has breathed his last; nor can he be hunted with dogs, as his
skin is of a texture that perfectly resists a bite, and his hinder
parts are effectually protected by thick and shaggy hair; yet, armed
with the wourali poison, the wild hunters know how to paralyse in a few
minutes his muscular powers, and to stretch him dead upon the earth.
They have also recourse to stratagem for the animal’s destruction, for
during rain it turns its long bushy tail up over its back and stands
still. Knowing this, the Indians when they meet with one, rustle the
leaves, and it thinks rain is falling, and turning up its tail, they
take the opportunity of killing it by a blow on the head with a stick.
A perfect forest vagabond, the ant-bear has no den to retire to, nor
any fixed abode; his immense tail is large enough to cover his whole
body, and serves him as a tent during the night, or as a waterproof
mantle against the rains of the wet season, so that he might boast,
like Diogenes, of carrying all he required about him.
The peculiar position of his paws, when he walks or stands, is worthy
of notice. He goes entirely on the outer side of his fore-feet, which
are quite bent inwards, the claws collected into a point and going
under the foot. In this position he is quite at ease, while his long
claws are disposed of in a manner to render them harmless to him, and
are prevented from becoming dull and worn, which would inevitably be
the case did their points come in actual contact with the ground, for
they have not that retractile power which is given to animals of the
feline race, enabling them to preserve the sharpness of their claws on
the most flinty path. In consequence of its resting perpetually on the
ground, the whole outer side of the foot is hard and callous, while,
on the contrary, the inner side of the bottom of the foot is soft and
hairy.
Besides the great ant-bear, there are two other species of American
ant-eaters, one nearly the size of a fox, and the smallest not much
larger than a rat. Being provided with prehensile tails, they are
essentially arboreal, while the great ant-bear, incapable of climbing,
always remains on the ground, where, thanks to the abundance of his
prey, he is always sure of obtaining a sufficient supply of food, with
very little trouble.
The Manides, and Pangolins, of South Africa and Asia, resemble the
ant-eaters of America in having a very long extensile tongue, furnished
with a glutinous mucus for securing their insect food, and in being
destitute of teeth; but completely differ from them in having the whole
body covered with a panoply of large imbricated scales, overlapping
each other like those of the lizard tribes, and also in being able to
roll themselves up when in danger, by which their trenchant scales
become erect, and present a formidable defensive armour of wonderful
hardness, so that even the tiger would vainly attempt to overcome the
Indian Pangolin.
The manides are inoffensive animals, living wholly on ants and
termites, and chiefly inhabit the most obscure parts of the forest,
burrowing in the ground to a great depth, for which purpose, as also
for extracting their food from ant-hills and decaying wood, their feet
are armed with powerful claws, which they double up in walking, like
the ant-bear of Brazil.
[Illustration: AARD VARK.]
Besides several species of manides, Africa possesses a peculiar class
of ant-eaters in the Aard varks, or Earth-hogs (_Orycteropi_), thus
called from their extraordinary powers of excavation and their fancied
resemblance to small short-legged pigs. Such is the strength of their
prodigious claws that they easily tear to pieces the clay-built domes
of the termites; which, though so solid as to be capable of bearing
the weight of many men on their summits, are unable to resist the
destructive labours of the Aard vark. Towards evening the animal
issues from its burrow, and roaming over the plains, searches for
an ant-hill in full operation. A breach is soon made in the strong
walls of the citadel, and as the unfortunate termites run hither and
thither in consternation, like the inmates of a beleaguered city whose
ramparts are crumbling under the enemy’s artillery, the author of this
confusion flings his glutinous tongue among them and sweeps them into
his mouth by hundreds. The Aard varks abound all over the sultry plains
of torrid Africa, but owing to their great burrowing powers the capture
of a living specimen is attended with the greatest difficulty; the
claws being instruments of excavation with which the spade is unable to
compete. Unless disturbed, however, and forced to dig deeper through
fear of capture, the Aard vark, being averse to unnecessary trouble,
makes but a shallow burrow--sufficiently deep, however, not seldom to
cause the wheels of a waggon to sink into it, or to prove a treacherous
pitfall to a hunter in full chase.
The American Armadillos have many points in common with the Manides.
They have neither fore nor canine teeth, but a number of conical
grinders, and are distinguished by having the upper parts of their
bodies defended by a complete suit of armour, divided into joints or
bands, folding one over the other like the parts of a lobster’s tail,
so as to accommodate themselves to all the motions of the animal. In
life, this shell is very limber, so that the armadillo is able to go
at full stretch, or to roll himself up into a ball as occasion may
require. These animals are very common both in the forests and in the
open plains of South America, where they reside in subterranean homes
which they have dug with their powerful fore-limbs. They are seldom
seen abroad during the day, and when surprised are sure to be near
the mouth of their holes; but after sunset they sally forth in search
of roots, grain, worms, insects, and other small animals, and when
disturbed, coil themselves up in their armour like the hedgehog, or
squat close to the ground, or escape by digging into the earth, a work
which they perform with masterly dexterity. So fast indeed do they
excavate that if a horseman sees one of these animals, he must almost
tumble from his steed if he wishes to capture the active creature. And
when he has seized it he must be cautious not to come into contact with
its feet, or he will suffer severe wounds from the powerful claws with
which they are armed.
The family of the armadillos has been subdivided into numerous
genera and species, distinguished from each other by the number of
their shelly bands, their teeth, and their toes. They might also be
conveniently divided into two tribes, the one with a long and conical
tail, the other with a short caudal appendage, formed like a club. They
differ greatly in size, for while the giant armadillo (_Priodontes
gigas_) is at least four feet long from the tip of the snout to the
tip of the tail, the Pichiciago (_Chlamyphorus truncatus_), which
inhabits the province of Mendoza in the Andes, and is remarkable for
its mole-like propensities, passing the greatest part of its life
underground, scarcely measures six inches in length.
[Illustration: PICHICIAGO.]
[Illustration: PORCUPINE ECHIDNA.]
The curious Echidna, or Porcupine Ant-eater (_Echidna hystrix_) of
Australia, is a striking instance of those beautiful gradations so
frequently observed in the animal kingdom, by which creatures of
various tribes or genera are blended as it were, or linked together,
and of the wonderful diversity which Nature has introduced into the
forms of creatures destined to a similar mode of life. It has the
general appearance and external coating of the porcupine, with the
mouth and peculiar generic characters of the ant-eaters. It is about
a foot in length, and burrows with wonderful facility by means of its
short muscular fore-feet and its sharp-pointed claws. When attacked, it
rolls itself into a ball like the hedgehog, erecting the short, strong,
and very sharp spines with which the upper parts of the body and tail
are thickly coated, and thus presenting a formidable defensive armour
to its assailant.
[Illustration: FLYING FOXES.]