The great naturalist Bates writes of the sloth: "It is a strange sight to watch this uncouth creature, fit production of these silent shades, lazily moving from branch to branch. Every movement betrays, not indolence exactly, but extreme caution. He never loses his hold from one branch without first securing himself to the next.... After watching the animal for about half an hour, I gave him a charge of shot; he fell with a terrific crash, but caught a bough in his descent with his powerful claws, and remained suspended. Our Indian lad tried to climb the tree, but was driven back by swarms of stinging ants; the poor little fellow slid down in a sad predicament, and plunged headlong into the brook to free himself."
On another occasion the same writer tells us he "saw a sloth swimming across a river at a place where it was 300 yards broad. I believe it is not generally known that this animal takes to the water. Our men caught the beast, cooked and ate him."
In past ages gigantic ground-sloths roamed over South America. The largest of these, the Megatherium, rivalled the elephant in size. Descendants of these giants appear to have lingered on till comparatively recent times, as witness the wonderful discovery by Moreno, made during last year (1900) in a cave in Patagonia. This was nothing less than a skull and a large piece of the hide of one of these monsters in a wonderful state of preservation, showing indeed undoubted traces of blood and sinew. That the hide was removed by human hands there can be no doubt, for it was rolled up and turned inside-out. Immediately after this discovery was announced, an expedition was dispatched from England to hunt, not so much for more remains, but for the animal itself. Time will show whether these efforts will prove successful.
The Ant-eaters.
Unlike as the ant-eaters are to the sloths, they are nevertheless very closely related thereto. This unlikeness at the present day is so great that, were it not for "missing-links" in the shape of fossils, we should probably never have discovered the relationship. The head of the typical ant-eaters has been drawn out into a long tubular muzzle, at the end of which is a tiny mouth just big enough to permit the exit of a long worm-like tongue, covered with a sticky saliva. This tongue is thrust out with great rapidity amongst the hosts of ants and termites and their larvæ, on which they prey. These victims are captured by breaking open their nests. At once all the active inhabitants swarm up to the breach, and are instantaneously swept away by the remorseless tongue. The jaws of the ant-eaters are entirely toothless, and the eyes and ears are very small.
The largest species of ant-eater is about 4 feet long. It lives entirely upon the ground. Generally speaking, it is a harmless creature; but at times, when cornered, it will fight furiously, sitting up on its hind legs and hugging its foe in its powerful arms. Bates, the traveller-naturalist, relates an instance in which a dog used in hunting the Great Ant-eater was caught in its grip and killed. The tail of this large species is covered with very long hair, forming an immense brush. The claw on the third toe of each fore limb is of great size, and used for breaking open ants' and other insects' nests.
Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.] [Parson's Green.
THE GREAT ANT-EATER.
In walking the ant-eater turns its toes inwards, so that the claws turn upwards and inwards, the weight of the body being borne by a horny pad on the fifth toe, and the balls of the third and fourth toes.