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Updated: June 20, 2025
There are quadrupeds that live exclusively on them, as the ant-bear already described, and the pangolins, or scaly ant-eaters of the Eastern continent. There are birds, too, of many sorts that devour the ants; and there are even some who make them exclusively their food, as the genus Myothera, or "ant-catchers."
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.
Some few species alone have passed the barrier, and may be considered as wanderers from the south, such as the puma, opossum, kinkajou, and peccari. South America is characterized by possessing many peculiar gnawers, a family of monkeys, the llama, peccari, tapir, opossums, and, especially, several genera of Edentata, the order which includes the sloths, ant-eaters, and armadilloes.
The puma did not spring up the tree at once, as Leon had expected. On the contrary, it crouched round and round with glaring eyes and wagging tail, as if calculating the mode of attack. Its lips were red stained with the blood of the ant-eaters and this added to the hideousness of its appearance. But it needed not that, for it was hideous enough at any time.
River Para and Bay of Marajo Journey to Caripi Negro Observance of Christmas A German Family Bats Ant-eaters Hummingbirds Excursion to the Murucupi Domestic Life of the Inhabitants Hunting Excursion with Indians White Ants
"The quagga is very indifferent food, but the striped quagga is very passable; so if you intend to save any for our dinner, pray let it be some of the latter. Have you done hunting to-day?" "Yes," replied the Major, "if Wilmot is of my opinion, I think we had better not work our horses any more just now; the plain is so full of large holes, ant-eaters' holes, Bremen says they are."
The Porcupine Ant-eaters are found in most parts of the country, and are esteemed very good eating; they burrow in the earth, and have a tongue of remarkable length, which they put out of their mouth, and the ants immediately crowd upon it, as if lured by some particular attraction, and when it appears to be pretty well covered, it is drawn in with rapidity, and the insects are expeditiously swallowed.
The transition from the "beast of Meris" on the one hand to the common typidentate mammalian ancestor, and on the other hand to the elephants, is easy, and requires no effort of the imagination. On the other hand, the whales, the sloths, ant-eaters, and armadilloes, as also the Marsupials, are called Variodentata, because we cannot derive their teeth from those of the Typidentate ancestor.
Among the curious or scarce articles in this Museum, the following claim particular notice: In the class of quadrupeds, adult individuals, stuffed, such as the camelopard, the hippopotamus, the single-horned rhinoceros, the Madagascar squirrel, the Senegal lemur, two varieties of the oran-outang, the proboscis-monkey, different specimens of the indri, some new species of bats and opossums, the Batavian kangaroo, and several antelopes, ant-eaters, &c.
During this time a very peculiar fauna grew up in South America, some of the types resembling nothing now existing, while others are recognizable as ancestral forms of the ant-eaters, sloths, and armadillos of to-day.
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