Show KIN OF ANT EATER so south lith african animal that digs hole and disappears Disappear s aardvark aard has ha only Rudiment rudimentary arv teeth with lope lego like those of the lan kangaroo specimens very hard to secure now new york did you ever see an aard aardvark a writer iti in tho the new york world perhaps you know it better batter by its ita latin name no they got one in the zoological in park nor so fur far as tho the writer has baa boon been able to learn in any of the famous zoos zooa or menageries of tho the world for the tha aardvark aard la Is a delicate doll cato animal according to curator Dit maxe and not easily acclimated the nard barth was thought td bo be a myth until the dutch and english bogan to settle africa it was waa first de scribed ascribed by P kolbe kolba in 1742 in an account of his travels in capo cape colony colonn but duffan bufton called in question hla his description How however dver this is known to bo be accurate the Paris museum has just received an us which it has had stuffed and placed on exhibition thoro thero aro are three species and that in n parla paris to la the excessively rare from the reg regions lotis ot of the blue me and abyssinia the tha commonest species Is that which to la found in cau and southern africa as far north as aa angola the third species to Is pc peculiar cullar to Sene gambla gambia the tha aardvark belongs to tho the order of so GO called because its members mort bers are ara either toothless of or have bavo only rudimentary or defective teeth it ts s a cousin of the ant bears the armadillo es and tho the pangolins pan golins of south america it Is about six foot long including tho tail atall and about twenty inch inches elij high filah its back la a arched its head bead long and ending in it a snout like a pigs only sharper and longer its forelegs fore legs are short its hind legs lega much larger like those of a kangaroo and its tall is heavy and almost as aa long as its body its ears cars are long and erect cred like an ass athas ismall piggy eyes a very thick skin like a pigs covered with sparsely scattered hair and yellow all over its tonge la Is very long extensive and always covered with a gummy saliva it protrudes from a mouth that Is litus little more than a round hole bole tho the young animal has eight molars in the u upper p per jaw and six in the lower bat but the adult adul thas has only live five above and tour four below and all of these are tary tho the ethiopian species lives in the dessert always near ant hills for the ants are its food in the daytime it stays curled up and asleep in a bur row which it closes behind it it digs sl a hole even in the hardest ground with incredible rapidity and disappears pea rs in a few moments for the four toes on its front feet are armed with strong claws which it plies ples rapidly scooping out the earth and throwing it behind itself in a great cloud of dual f at night it emerges and goes out hunting for ant hills As boonas soon as it has found one it makes sure that no danger 1 Is menacing then it lies iles down with its snout against the antil aaa hill lill puts out its tongue as tar far as ti it can and waits goon boon its tongue dongue is covered with ants caught like hie flies on oa sticky flypaper then it draws in its tongue chews up the ants and begins again it is very tl timid mid and so keen of ear that it c catches every faint sound bount I 1 at the slightest alarm it digs a hole and buries itself it never attacks anything but insects yet when attacked tacked ht it defends itself with its powerful claws in a way that makes it dangerous when surprised by the hunter it almost always has its bead and shoulders in a liole hole and it takes so tight a grip ou on the earth that it if the hunter tries to pull it forth he be la Is almost certain to fall fail its flesh la id highly prized in africa and it is said to taste like pork it la Is easily tamed in its native land and in the days of egypto ancient greatness must have been a pet for ladles as on the tomb of abd el gournay of the nineteenth dynasty there to Is graven a picture of a noblewoman with an following her like a dog |