Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1880-04-30
AN ANT.BEAR.
A Brazilian Curiosity Which has Ar.
rived in New York.


And ant bear, the first Of the kind to
be brought to America alive, arrived at
New York the other day from Brazil
A reporter Of The World describes Wis.
il to the animal, as follows;
The beSr rose ON its legs, showing y
wonderfully elongated and marrow
head. 1t is ickly covered with long,
coarse hair, which on the tail is halt
way between the tilaments Of heavy
plume and the sticks of tan. The
tail isused by the bear with commend.
able ingenuity as a blanket, being for
that purpose brought around halt-cir-
Gle, and spread just sufficiently TO Ell.
tirely cover the body. Besides serving
aS a cover for warmth, il hides the al.
imal. Hunters not accustomed to the
forests Of Brazil which the ant-hear 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 - long,
triangular black mark crosses the nm,
imal from the throat, passes obliquely
over the shoulders. Measuring from
the tip OF the snout TO the end of the
tail the bear is just y triile more than
feet in length. The head alone is
one aud 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 rs defense
against stronger animals. II 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, 50
that the dying man can kill the bear if
he desires To. The bear has found out
that the safest way Is to wind its snake
like head around tine body of its foe. Its
hug particularly powerful. The bear
turned its claws inward upon thick
rough palm and walked on the outer
edge Ct the fore-feet ina lazy, awkward
manner to box two feet away. The
only indication of intelligence it dis.
played was in scraping away the straw
for bed. 1t cannot walk long. The
bear came from Para by the schooner
Thomas Williams. Its owner, Mr..
Reiche, has had a 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 am
imal is the only one ever brought to the
United States. Captain Edward se-
cured itwhile 1t was sleeping, which it
is very capable at. Mr. Reiche is ne.
gotiating to sell it to the German 100.
logical Garden company in Berlin for
81 500. He says that no geological gar.
den in tine world possesses n live ant.
bear. The London garden could keep
one for only week. 1t died in the
garden.
Mr.. aeiche feeds the bear with ex.
tremely finely scraped beef mixed with
eggs and sugar. Every schoolbov, par
ticularly il he has read Myne Reid with
proper diligence, remembers the pic.
ture of the ant-bear sweeping up a
thousand live ants with n 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 a 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
rs dogs eat. Turning to the dish of
scraped meat, it placed the tip of its
long tongue on the plate and returned
it to Its mouth without partaking of the
food. The bear then stood upon its
feet, and leaning its head down vertical
ly spread its head over the straw and
made shrill noise like tin whistle
and hobbled back to its bed