The most remarkable species is the Great Ant-eater, the largest of the family. It grows to more than a yard and a half in length, from the tip of its long nose to its tail. Its coat is rough, abundant and of a dark color. The tail, covered with very long and extremely bushy hair, has the power of being raised like a plume, and is more than a yard in length. The strength of this animal is so great that it can defend itself successfully against the ferocious Jaguar, which it either hugs, like a Bear, or tears to pieces with its formidable claws.
It lives in damp forests in which its insect food is most abundant.
There are two other species of the Ant-eater, which live more or less on trees and enjoy, on this account, one of the characteristics which are peculiar to American Monkeys—that of grasping branches firmly with the tail, a portion of which is bare of hair underneath, and capable of being twisted round any object. These species are the Tamandua, an Ant-eater about three feet long, which divides its time between the ground and the thick foliage of trees; and the Little, or Two-toed Ant-eater, so called because it has only two toes, instead of four, on the front feet. This latter species is a native of Brazil and Guiana. It but seldom descends to the ground, and is not much larger than a Rat.
THE PANGOLINS.
The Pangolins are also Ant-eaters, but the peculiar nature of the covering of their bodies will not allow them to be classed with the preceding family. The hair of their coat is glued together so as to form large scales, inserted in the skin in nearly the same way as the nails of a Man, and lapping one over the other, like the slates of a roof. From their strong resemblance to Reptiles, the name Scaly Lizard has been applied to these creatures.
The Pangolin (from the Javanese word Pangoeling, meaning to roll into a ball) have short legs, furnished with stout claws; they are devoid of any external ear and have no trace of teeth. Their method of feeding is exactly the same as that of the Ant-eaters; but their head, although elongated in shape, is not quite so long, and their tongue is less slender.
They dwell in forests, where they dig burrows, or lodge in the hollow of trees. When they are attacked, they roll themselves into a ball, like the Armadillo; at the same time their scales are erected, forming an impregnable buckler. This family possesses several species.
The Pangolins are of medium size; they never exceed a yard in length. They are natives of the Old World exclusively; India and the Malay Isles, the south of China, and a great part of Africa, are the regions in which they are usually found.
Although the animals look at first sight like curious, heavy-bodied Lizards, they have warm blood, and nourish their young like the rest of the Mammalia. The Pangolin lives in burrows in the earth, or sometimes in the large hollows of colossal trees which have fallen to the ground. The burrows are usually made in light soil on the slope of a hill. There are two holes to each gallery: One for entrance, and another for exit. This is quite necessary on account of the animal being quite incapable of curving its body sideways, so that it cannot turn itself in its burrow.
The bodies of Pangolins are very flexible vertically—that is, they can roll themselves up into a ball, and coil and uncoil themselves very readily—but they cannot turn round within the confined limits of their burrows.