THE PANGOLINS, OR SCALY ANT-EATERS.[65]
THE AFRICAN SCALY ANT-EATERS.
An animal living in the same country, on the same kind of food, and having many of the habits of the Cape Ant-eater, especially as it belongs to the same order of the animal kingdom, might be expected to resemble it in shape and in most of the important parts of its construction. But the comparison between the Ant-eater, just described, and the Scaly Ant-eater, shows that these animals have some very remarkable differences. The Scaly Ant-eater is toothless, and covered with scales.
TEMMINCK’S PANGOLIN.
Formerly, the Scaly Ant-eaters roamed far south in Africa, but now they are rare animals in South Africa, in the west of the continent, and across to Sennaar. They are found in Zanzibar, and as far south as the latitude of Mozambique. They are small animals, of from two to nearly five feet in length, with long tails; and their body, limbs, and tail are covered with numerous large, somewhat angular, and sharp-edged scales, as with armour. The scales overlap each other like tiles, and the free part pointing backwards is bluntly angular or rounded at the tip. When the animal is on its feet walking, they form a very close and impenetrable covering, being doubtless of great use to the creature, for it must trust entirely to its defences, having no weapon of offence. But when the Scaly Ant-eater is alarmed or threatened with danger, or positively attacked, it rolls itself up like a ball, places the snout between the legs, and the tail underneath, and then sticks up its scales, offering their sharp edges to the enemy. There are several kinds of them, and one in particular was noticed by Dr. Smith, the African traveller, and was named after the zoologist Temminck, MANIS TEMMINCKII. He observed that it was rarely seen, but that when it was discovered, instead of burrowing, it did not attempt to escape, but rolled itself up instantly in the shape of a ball, taking especial care of its head, which is the only part unarmoured and likely to be injured. He states that Ants form its chief and favourite food, and that it secures them by extending its projectable tongue into holes which may exist in the habitations of those insects, or which it may itself form. The tongue having made an entry, it is soon covered with a multitude of insects, and as it is well lubricated with saliva, they are held fast, and when a full load is ready, the retracting muscles act on the tongue and the whole is carried back into the mouth, after which the Ants are swallowed. The same traveller accounts for the scarcity of the Scaly Ant-eaters, partly from the disinclination of the natives to discover them for strangers, and partly because they are environed with supernatural gifts in their eyes. They are carefully sought for, by the natives, for their own use and supposed advantage, for they believe the animal to have some influence on cattle, and that certain treatment to which they are exposed produces this. Whenever a specimen is secured by the natives, it is submitted to fire in some cattle-pen, apparently as a burnt offering for the increase of the health and fertility of all cattle which may henceforward enter the fold. “Here,” writes Dr. Smith, “we have another cause for the obliteration of a species. Intolerance of their aggression has wrought up the shepherd or agriculturist to the destruction of some; but in this case, a species is probably dying out under the influence of a superstition.”
FOUR-FINGERED PANGOLIN.
They burrow even in rather hard ground, and feed at night time. It has been noticed that the mother sits upright when enticing the young to suckle.
This Manis has rather a short head, and a wide body, and the tail is as long as the trunk: it is rather less in width near the body, and does not diminish much near the end. In a specimen which is twenty-five inches and a half long, the back of the animal is eight inches across, and the tail at its root is five inches broad. The scales are large, and are in about eleven rows. The body is of a pale yellowish-brown colour, the scales being lightest in tint near their points, and they are often streaked with yellow. Where the scales are wanting the skin is dusky brown. The eyes are reddish-brown, and the muzzle is black. The nails of the fore feet are bent under, so that the animal walks on their upper part. The scales are composed of hairs placed side by side and agglutinated together, and when first formed, and for some little time after, they are soft. They cover the upper part of the fore and hind extremities besides the body, and are striated. This kind lives in Eastern Africa, Sennaar, Caffraria, Kordofan, and Latakoo.