The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1880-05-06
: AN ANT.BEAR.
A Brazilian Curiosity Which has Ar.
rived in New York.

New York the other day from Brazil.
A reporter of The World describes a Wis.,
it to the animal, as follows:
The bear rose on its legs, showing
wonderfully elongated and narrow
head. It is thickly covered with long,
coarse hair, which on the tail is half
way between the flaments of a heavy
plume and the sticks of q fan. The
tail Is used by the bear with commend
able ingenuity as q blanket, being for
that purpose brought around half-cir-
Gle, and spread just sufficiently to en-
tirely cover the body. Besides serving
as cover for warmth, it hides the an
imal. Hunters not accustomed to the
forests of Brazil which the ant-bear in
habits, step on it without knowing that
it is curiosity. The color is brown
washed with gray on the head and face
and interspersed with pure white
hairs on the head and hinder limbs.
The throat is very black, and a long,
triangular black mark crosses the an
imal from the throat. passes obliqualy
over the shoulders. Measuring from
the tip of the snout to the end of the
tail the bear is just q trife more than
SIX feet in length. The head alone is
one and q half and the tail two feet
long. The bear has four toes on the
fore-feet and five on the hinder feet.
The claws on the fore-feet are extreme
ly long and curved and of no use in
walking. They are used as defense
against stronger animals. If they once
are implanted in the flesh of human
being the wound is apt to prove fatal.
They are apt also not to come out, so
that the dying man can kill the bear if
he desires to. The bear has found out
that the safest way is to wind it's snake
like head around the body of it's foe. Its
hug is particularly powerful. The bear
turned its claws inward upon a thick,
rough palm and walked on the outer
edge Of the fore-feet in lazy, awkward
manner to q box two feet away. The
only indication of intelligence it dis.
played was in scraping away the straw
for q bed. It cannot walk long. The
bear came from Para by the schooner
Thomas Williams. It's owner, Mr..
Reiche, has had standing offer for the
last ten years to all the captains sailing
from New York to Brazil to pay good
sum for live ant-bear, and this an
imal is the only one ever brought to the
United States. Captain Edward Sc
cured it while it was sleeping, which it
is very capable at. Mr.. Reiche is ne
gotiating to sell it to the German Zoo
logical Garden company in Berlin for
s., 500. He says that no geological gar
den in the world possesses a live ant
bear. The London garden could keep
one for only week. 1t died in the
garden.
Mr.. Reiche feeds the bear with ex-
tremely finely scraped beef mixed with
eggs and sugar. Every schoolboY, par
ticularly if he has read Myne Reid with
proper diligence, remembers the pic.
ture of the ant-bear sweeping up q
thousand live ants with tongue near
ly two feet long. The tongue, which is
covered with saliva, is most effective
ant-trap. At first it did not take kind
ly to the change of diet, and basin of
ant eggs soaked in lukewarm water was
brought. The bear ate half of the meal
by tapping up the eggs much the same
as dogs eat. Turning to the dish of
scraped meat, it placed the tip of it's
long tongue on the plate and returned
it to its mouth without partaking of the
food. The bear then stood upon it's
feet, and leaning its head down vertical
~ spread it's head over the straw and
made shrill noise like tin whistle
and hobbled back to its bed.