Natural History: Mammalia/Myrmecophagadæ
Family IV. Myrmecophagadæ.
(Ant-eaters.)
The teeth, which we have seen in the preceding Families gradually deviating more and more from the forms in which they occur in the higher Mammalia, are now no longer found; the mouth being entirely destitute of incisors, canines, and molars. The jaws are produced into a very long and slender muzzle, terminating in a mouth of extreme smallness. The tongue, which ordinarily lies folded upon itself within the mouth, is capable of protrusion to a great degree, even equaling in some species the length of the whole head and muzzle together. The whole food of these singular animals consists of the termites and ants of tropical countries, which dwell in immense numbers in edifices of their own construction. To tear down the walls of these insect-houses, considerable force is required, and hence the feet are armed with long, powerful, and trenchant claws, that on the middle toe of the fore-foot, in particular, being of enormous size and power. The claws are commonly bent down upon the palm as in the Sloths, being capable of only a partial extension, and that by muscular effort. With these formidable pick-axe-like talons, the Ant-eater tears away the exterior walls of the earthen nests of the termites, which immediately, according to their known instinct, crowding in thousands to the point of attack, the quadruped darts among them his long slender tongue, covered with a viscid secretion, and draws it back into his mouth with a swift motion, covered with the entangled insects.
The affinity between these animals and the Sloths is strongly perceived in many points of their anatomy, besides the size and peculiar conformation of the claws; and particularly the great fossil Sloths, the Megatheriidæ. Two very distinct forms are found in this Family: the one that of the Ant-eaters proper, confined to South America, covered with long coarse hair; the other that of the Pangolins of India and Africa, clothed with large sharp-edged, bony scales, overlapping one another like those of a fish. These also have the power of rolling themselves up into a ball, when the cutting edges of the scales project on all sides and form an efficient defence. With this very obvious exception, however, there is little difference in anatomy or economy, between the Ant-eaters and the Pangolins.
Genus Myrmecophaga. (Linn.)
We have but little to add to the distinguishing characters of this small group, which we have indicated above. The toes, of which we have already spoken, vary in number in the species; for while the Great Ant-bear and the Tamandua have four on the front feet, and five on the hind, the Little Ant-eater has but two on the fore-feet, and four on the hind. As in the Sloths, the toes are inclosed in the skin, and are therefore incapable of separate motion, but this rigidity greatly increases the power of the foot as an instrument for digging. As in those animals, also, the inflection of the long claws during rest renders the contact of the sole with the ground impossible; the Ant-eater rests entirely upon its outer edge, which is provided with a large callous pad for this purpose, and thus the claws are preserved from being worn and blunted in the action of walking.
Progression is, however, slowly performed; the utmost exertions of these animals not availing to equal the ordinary pace of a man in walking. The eyes are small, the ears short, and round, the legs robust and very powerful, in the peculiar sphere of action which the wisdom of God has assigned to them. The tail is lengthened: in the two smaller species it is in part prehensile, and these species have the faculty of climbing trees, where they search for the arboreal termites and ants, and for wild bees. The Great Ant-bear, however, (Myrmecophaga jubata, Linn.) has its tail, which it carries in an elevated position, covered with long flowing vertical hair, reminding one of that of a Newfoundland Dog.
This animal, the largest species of the genus, is spread over the continent of South America from Colombia to Paraguay. It measures four feet and a half from the muzzle to the tail; and the latter is upwards of three feet more: its height at the shoulders is about three feet and a quarter. The hair on the whole body is coarse and in some parts flattened, resembling withered grass: its prevailing colour is a mixture of deep brown with silvery grey; a broad band of black runs obliquely along each side.
"It is almost incredible," says Azara, "that so robust and powerful an animal can procure sufficient sustenance from ants alone; but this circumstance has nothing strange in it for those who are acquainted with the tropical parts of America, and who have seen the enormous multitudes of these insects, which swarm in all parts of the
GREAT ANT-BEAR.
country to such a degree that their hills often almost touch one another for miles together." Dr. Schomburgk, however, informs us that in his attacks on the nests of the termites, or white-ants (for it is to these we presume that Azara alludes) the Ant-bear is an economist, and does not destroy more than he needs. When he finds that the termites cease to crowd to the surface in numbers, he examines the fragments he has pulled down, using his left foot to hold the large lumps, while with his right he leisurely pulls them to pieces. This enterprising traveller domesticated an Ant-bear, which he fed upon beef and fish, chopped into pieces sufficiently minute to be taken with its small and narrow lips.
