The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1880-05-05
4 Sonth american Curlosltr.l

A note was received at the New York
Wort Office recently. reading: Come
and see remarkable curiosity at the
AQUARIUM. The reporter who an
swered this call walked along though
straw and was Just about to put his feet
down into what appeared to be q bundle
of old hay when the proprietor OBJ
served: That's the curiosity
step on it, The hay began tJ move
with much deliberatiOn, and there was
slowly elevated a ong, wide fan, which
went to the rear 10 serve as a tail.
"That animal,n said its proprietor,
Charles Reiche, " is an ant-bear. !. The
bear rose on its legs, showing q
wonderfully elongated and narrow
head. 1t is thickly covered with long
coarse hair. which on the tail is
halfway between the filaments of
heavy plume and the sticks of
fan. The tail is used by the bear with
commendable ingenuity as a blanket,
being for that purpose brought around &
half circle and spread just sufficiently
to entirely cover the body. Besides
serving as cover for warmth 1t hides
the animal. Hunters not accustomed
to the forests of Brazil which the ant
bear inhabits step on it without know
ing that it is a curiosity. The color is
brown washed with gray on the head
and face, and intsrspersed with pure
white hairs on the head and hinder
limbs. The throat is very black, and a
long, triangular, black mark crosses the
animal from the throat, passing OBJ
Houelv over the shoulders. Measur-
ing from the tip OF the snout to the
end OF the tail, the b9ar is just trifie
more than six feet in length. The head
alone is one and one-h half and the tail
two feet long. The bear has four toes
on the fore-f et and five on the hinder
feet. The claws on the fore-feet are ex-
tremely long and curved and of no use
in walking. They are used as means
of defense against stronger animals. III
they once are implanted in the flesh Of a
human being. the wound is apt TO prove
fatal. They are apt also not to come
out, so that the dying maa can kill the
bear if he desires to. The bear has
found that the safest way is to wind its
spake-like head around the body Of its
| Zoe It's 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 Ia a
lazy, awkward manner to a box two
feet away. The only indication OF
| intelligence it displayed was in scrap
ing away the straw for bed. it cam
not walk long. The bear came from
Para by the schooner Thomas Williams.
Its owner. Mr.. Reiohe, has had stand
ing offer for the last ten years to all the
captains sailing from New York to
Brazil to pay a good sum tor live ant
bear. and this animal is the only one
ever brought to the United States.
Captain Edwards secured it while It
was sleeping, which It Is very capable
at. Mr.. Reiche is negotiating to sellit
to the German Zoologieal garden COM
pany in Berlin for 81 500. Hesays that
no geological garden in the world pos
sesses q 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 tinely-scraped beef mixed with
eggs and sugar Every schOOlboy, par
ticularly if he has read Mayne Reid with
proper diligence, remembers the picture
of the anf-bear sweeping up thousand
! live ants with q tongue nearly two feet
/ long. This tongue, which is covered
with saliva is a most effective ant trap.
/ Mr.. Reiche fed the bear while the
! World man was present. At first it did
not take kindly to the change Of diet,
and basin of ant eggs soaked in luke
warm water was brought. The bear
ate half of the meat by tapping up the
eggs much the same as dogs eat. Turn
ing to the dish of scraped meat It placed
the tipof its long tongue on the. plate
and returned IL to its mouth without
partaking Of the food. The bear then
/ stood upon her feet, and leaning its head
down vertically spread its tongue over
the straw and made a shrill noise like a
tin whistle and hOhbled back 70 its bed.