Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1894-07-06
The Coat MOndi.


The Coat Mondi is indeed strange
animal, both in form and habits. In
shape he is like "a miniature bear. all
excepting his long and pointed muzzle
and his remarkable tail. Shorten the
one and cut of the other. and you will
have "A very good bear although ii may
be "A trile too short in the legs 10 suit
the fastidious. He is ilat-sided bow
legged in his fore legs, with massive
forearm, beady black eyes. yerj rest
less disposition and "A shril squedk for
II cry in captivity. In size the fully
grown animal is about the size of "A iox-
terrier. His hair is long and full, but
rather harsh, and its prevailing color is
che tnut-brown above and pale yellow
underneath. The nose itself is very
dark brown in color. and the eve are
set i'm the middle of conspicuous Naite
patches, suggesting the glasses Of = par
Of speclac.es. TIE ears are small aaj
quite 5ear-.ikc in shape
The tail of this animal is truly wo1-
derful appendage and rs used r. he
living animal always make me A,IS
of Snake. 1t is nearly H. ong as tie
head an1 body, very THE. at the base
from which ii tape w. regularly 20
the end w4cr" il ,ermn. - in sharp.
snake-!ine POINT In joung specimens
it is sometimes onalJ ntcs with several
darN rings, Ike t. tail of racoon, but
these disappear almost entirely in the
full-grOwn animals.
When | was i'm British Guiana, Pau
lie, a native hunter whom | had for a
IN IL
strange tales of fierce wild animal
that inhabited those forests, strange in
form active in habits, and terrible in
temper. He described it as one of the
feline animals, calling it "W0rrac0b0
tiger which at that time threw me
completely of the track of its identity.
Paulie said it was the iiercest of all
South American animals, and always
hunted in packs strong enough to over
come and devour everything that came
in their way. They could climb trees
in search of their prey as well as any
cat, could descend tree head first, and
their bands swept through the forest
like devouring army, utterlng a low,
granting noise as they went. He told
me how he and some other hunters,
while encamped on the bank of a river
at night, were aroused by the sound of
an approaching band of warracaba
tigers. Springing from their ham,
mocks they fled to their canoes, aban-
doning everything, and padded for
mid-stream. When the cyclone of teeth
and claws had passed they returned to
their plundered camp TO find it a COM
plete wreck. Everything eatable had
disappeared, fruit and vegetables as
well as meat. He had never killed one
of these fearful animals, and in fact had
never seen one, nor even the skin of
one, for no hunter of his acquaintance
had ever dared to attempt to kill one Of
these unknown terrors. So far as Pau
lie knew, the creature had never been
seen by Il white man.
The Coat Mondi is easily tanned and
is often kept in captivity. Mr.. Samuel
Lockwood once published in the Popu-
lar Science Monthly QS72) most inter-
esting and amusing account of the life
and adventures of u "Nosey" that he
had kept a. "A pet. Judging from his
description | should say it would be
hard to find among wild quadrupeds
more interesting or amusing pet than
this species. Van. I. Horndd0y IN ST.
A3rHOI1S