This is, perhaps, the most interesting of the groups--interesting on
account of the singular animals which compose it, every one of which may
be termed an odd creature. In a strictly natural classification these
animals would not come together, since many of the species are unlike
the others both in appearance and habits; but in a scientific point of
view the absence of incisor teeth has caused them to be ranged together
in a group, known as the _edentata_, or toothless animals.
In this group we shall give the first place to the true ant-eaters, and
first speak of the ant-eaters of America. Of these there are four
well-known species, the great Ant-bear, or Tamanoir; the Tamandua, or
little Ant-bear; another little ant-bear, the Ringed Tamandua; and a
very small species that differs much from the other three. They are all
inhabitants of tropical America, and there are varieties of them in
different districts.
The Tamanoir is by far the largest, often attaining the size of a
Newfoundland dog; and the long hair which covers its sides, together
with its immense bushy tail, give to it the appearance of being much
bulkier than it is.
Its habits are tolerably well-known, constituting a very curious chapter
in natural history which we have not space to give. Suffice it to say
that its food consists entirely of ants and termites, which of
themselves form a strange feature in the zoology of tropical countries.
These it eats--not with teeth, but by means of its long slimy tongue, by
which it is enabled to draw into its mouth hundreds of the little
creatures at a time.
The two species of smaller ant-bears, or Tamanduas, obtain their
sustenance in a similar manner, and in other respects are like their
great congener; but they possess a power with which the latter is not
gifted--that of climbing trees, and making their nests high up in the
cavities of the trunks. They have the further power of being able to
suspend themselves from the branches with their tails, which, like those
of the opossums, are highly prehensile. The tamanduas do not live
solely upon ant-diet. The wild bees, that build nests among the
branches, are also objects of their attention; and their thick hairy
skins appear to protect them from the stings of these insects.
The smallest species--called the Ouatiri, or Two-toed Ant-eater--differs
altogether from the three above-mentioned. It more resembles a little
monkey, and is covered all over with a thick coat of soft woolly hair of
a yellowish colour. It is also a tree-climber, possesses a naked
prehensile tail, and makes its nest in a hole in the trunk, or in one of
the larger branches.
In Africa the ant-eaters are represented by several kinds of animals,
differing essentially from each other in outward appearance, though all
agreeing in their habits, or rather in the nature of their food.
The Aard-vark, or Earth-hog, of the Cape colonists, is the most noted
kind. This animal is a long, low-bodied creature, with sharp-pointed
snout, and an immense whip-like tongue, which he is capable of
projecting to a great distance, in the same manner as the tamanoir. His
body is covered with a dense shock of reddish-brown hair; and he dwells
in a burrow, which he can cleverly make for himself--hence his trivial
name of Ground-hog.
The other African ant-eaters are usually called Pangolins, or Manis.
These are covered with scales that resemble suits of ancient armour; and
on this account they have sometimes been confounded with the
armadilloes, though the two kinds of creatures are altogether different
in their habits. The pangolins possess, in common with the armadilloes,
the power of rolling themselves into a ball whenever attacked by an
enemy--a fashion not peculiar to pangolins and armadilloes, but also
practised by our own well-known hedgehog.
The Sloths belong to this group of mammalia; not that they have the
slightest resemblance to the ant-eaters in any respect, but simply, as
before stated, because they want the cutting teeth. They are not
absolutely toothless, however, since they possess both canines and
molars. With these they are enabled to masticate their food, which
consists of the leaves and tender shoots of trees.
The name, _sloth_, is derived from the sluggishness of their movements,
amounting almost to complete inactivity. They scarce stir from the spot
in which they may be placed, or at all events move so slowly as to be a
whole hour in getting from one tree to another, or even from one limb to
another! They spend most part of their time upon the trees (the
_cecropia peltata_ is their favourite), usually clinging to the branches
with their backs downward; and in this way they crawl from one to
another, uttering at intervals a plaintive cry, which resembles the
syllable _ai_, uttered several times in succession. From this they
derive one of their trivial names of Ai, or Ay-ay.
The sloths are all inhabitants of tropical America--dwellers in the
great forests of Guiana and Brazil.
As natural curiosities in the animal kingdom, the Armadilloes do not
yield to any of the four-footed creatures, and an account of their
habits, would space permit, could not be otherwise than extremely
interesting. They are exclusively inhabitants of America; but many
species, both in North and South America, are found far beyond the
limits of the torrid zone. There are a great many species known--and
these are of all sizes--from that of an ordinary rat, to the Giant
Tatou, which sometimes attains the enormous dimensions of a moderate
sized sheep! It may be mentioned that they are subdivided into a number
of genera, as the sloths, etcetera; and here, again, without any very
sufficient reason, since they all possess the scaly armour--from which
the name armadillo is derived--and their habits are nearly identical.
They dwell in burrows, which they make for themselves; in fact, they are
more than ordinarily clever at excavating, and have been blamed for
carrying their tunnels into graveyards, and feeding upon the bodies
there deposited! Of some of the species this charge is but too true;
and one would think that an animal of such habit would be regarded with
disgust. On the contrary, the flesh of the armadillo is in much esteem
as an article of food, both among the white colonists and the natives,
and men and dogs are employed in many parts of South America to procure
it for the table. Several species of armadilloes possess the power of
clueing themselves up, _a la hedgehog_, and thus presenting an
impenetrable front to the attacks of an enemy; while others want this
power, but, in its stead, can flatten their bodies along the ground, in
such a way that neither dog nor jaguar can set tooth upon anything
softer than their scales, and these are as impenetrable as if they were
plates of steel.
The more noted species are known by different names--as the Tatou Poyou,
the Giant Tatou, the Peba, the Pichiciago, the Pichey, the Hairy Tatou,
the Mataco, the Apara, and such like designations.
It may be added, that the armadilloes dwell in districts very
dissimilar. According to the species, they inhabit low marshes, thick
forests, or dry open hills; and several kinds are indigenous to the high
table-lands of the Andes.
Their usual food consists of fruits, legumes, and roots; but they are
nearly all omnivorous, and will eat carrion whenever it falls in their
way.
To this group belong two very singular animals, that have only of late
years become known. These are the Mullingong--better known as the
Ornithoryncus--and the Echidna, or Ant-eating Hedgehog. Both are
natives of what may be termed the new world of Australasia.
To give an account of the peculiar conformation or appearance of the
mullingong would require many pages, and only the artist can convey any
idea of what the creature is like. Suffice it to say, that it is a sort
of triangular cross between a bird, a quadruped, and a fish; having the
bill of a duck, the hair, skin, and legs of a quadruped, and the aquatic
habits of a fish, or rather of a seal. In general appearance it is,
perhaps, more like to a beaver than to any other animal. It dwells upon
the banks of rivers, lakes, or marshes, burrows in the ground like a
badger, swims and dives well, and feeds chiefly on aquatic insects.
The echidna is altogether a different sort of creature, both in
appearance and habits. It is, in reality, an ant-eater, with the body
of a porcupine, having a long slender snout and an extensile tongue,
just like that of other ant-eaters. It burrows in the ground, where it
can remain for a long period without food, and it is supposed to issue
forth only during the season of the rains. It also possesses the power
of rolling itself into a ball, like the hedgehog--hence its name among
the colonists of Ant-eating Hedgehog; but by far the most appropriate
appellation for it is the Porcupine Ant-eater, since in general
appearance it is exceedingly like several species of porcupines.
The Porcupines and Hedgehogs, though usually classed elsewhere, on
account of their teeth, their food, and a few other reasons not very
natural, should certainly stand in this group of odd animals; and here
let us place them. We have not space to say much about either of them;
and can only remark of the porcupines, that there are nearly a dozen
known species inhabiting different parts of the world--as usual,
separated into a great number of genera. Europe, Asia, Africa, the
Asiatic Islands, North and South America, all have their porcupines--
some of them entirely covered with quills, others with hair intermingled
with the spines, and still others on which the spinous processes are so
small as to be scarcely perceptible, yet all partaking of the habits and
character of the true porcupines. It may be further remarked, that the
American porcupines are tree-climbers, and feed upon twigs and bark; in
fact, lead a life very much resembling that of the sloths.
The Hedgehogs, about which so much has been said, should also go with
this group, though it is usual to place them among carnivorous animals.
Of hedgehogs there are also several species, and they are found in most
countries of Europe, and in many parts of Asia and Africa. No true
hedgehog has yet been discovered in North or South America, but they
have their representatives there in other species of worm-eating
animals.
It would not be proper to conclude these sketches without remarking,
that there are still a few other odd animals which we have not an
opportunity of introducing here. As an instance, we may mention the
little Daman, or Hyrax, a native of Africa and Asia Minor, and of which
there are two or three distinct species. This is the animal over which
Mr Frederic Cuvier, and other learned anatomists, have raised such a
paean of triumph--having discovered that, notwithstanding its great
resemblance to a rabbit, the little creature was, in reality, a
_rhinoceros_!
M. Cuvier and his followers seem to have omitted the reflection that
this wonderful discovery very naturally suggests. Putting it
interrogatively, we may ask, How is it that the hyrax, whose "anatomical
structure proves it to be a rhinoceros," is _not_ a rhinoceros in
habits, appearance, nor, in fact, in anything but the shape of its
bones?
If, then, we were to take osteology for our guide, I fear we should
often arrive at very erroneous conclusions; and were the little hyrax an
extinct animal, and not known to us by actual observation, we should be
led by anatomical theorists to ascribe to the timid creature a very
different set of manners from what it has got.
Despite anatomic theories, then, we shall continue to regard the hyrax--
the coney of the Scriptures--as a _rabbit, and not a rhinoceros_!