The Ordway new era., 1913-10-17
KIN Of INT Eater
South African Animal That Digs
Hole and Disappears.
Aard-vark Has Only RudimsAtsry
Teeth With Logs Like These u
the Kangaroo -Spsclsnsns Very
Hard 70 secure.

New York--Dtd you ever see m
aard-varkr asks . writer In the New
York World. Perhaps. you know 1t
better BY its Latin name. oTyctercpns? !?
No? They haven't got one In tha 10
ological collection In Bronx PARK, nor.
10 lar as the writer has been able
to learn. in any Of the famous soossor
menageries Of the world. For the
aard-vark IL delicate animal. accord
ing to Curator Ditmars. and not easily
acclimated.
The aard.varth was thought TO BE- a
myth until the Dutch and Ensiish be-
gan to settle Africa. It was ,hrst DE-
scribed by p. Kobe In 1743 In an.1c-
count Of his' travels in Cape Colony.
but Button called in question his de-
scription. However. this is known to
be accurate.
The Paris museum has Just received
an orycteropus. which It has had
stuffed and placed on exhibition.
There are three species. and that In
Paris Is the excessively rare Orycter
opus Ethiopicus from the regions OF
the Blue Nile and Abyssinia. The
commonest species is that which is
found in eastern and southern Africa
as far north ~ Angola. The third
species 10 peculiar to Senegambin-
The Aard-vark belongs to-ths order
Of Edentata, 10 called because its
members arc either toothiess or have
only rudimentary or defective teeth.
II h Z cousin OF the ant bearn. the
armadilloes and tho pansolins of
South America 1t IL about six feet
long. including the tail. and about
twenty inches high, IT. back 10
arched. It's head long and ending In
. snout like . pigs. only sharper and
longer. Its forelegs are short. it, hind
legs much larger, like those Of . kan
garoo. and its tail IL heavy and almost
~ long a. Its body. Its ears are long
and erect. like an ass. II has small.
piggy eyes. q very thick skin. like q
pigs. covered with sparsely scattered
hair. and yellow all oxcr.
Its tonge II very long. extensive and
always covered with D a4gummy saliya.
It protrudes from . mouth that II 1T
tie more than round hole. The
young animal has eight molars IN the
upper jaw and six in the lousr. hat
the adult has only five abovs and four
below. and all Of these are rudiamsn-
tary. -,
The Ethiopian species uyes fn the
dessert. always near ant hills. fof the
ants are itsi food. In the daytiAnA II
stays curled up and asleep In = bdr-
row which Il closes bshtnd IL II Nlssi
: hole even In the hardest ground
with incredible rapiditys and disap-
pears In few moments. for the four
toes on It's front fest arc armed with
strong claws, which It piles rapidly.
scooping out the earth and throwing
It behind itself In great cloud gof
dust si.,ssf Z
At night 1t emerses and goes ont
hunting for ant hills Az soon a. Il
has found one II makes sure that no
danger ID menacing. then 1t lies down
with It's snout against the ant hfll.
puts out its tongue - far ~ It can
and waits. Soon its tongue u covered
with ants. caught like flies on sticky
fiypaper. Then 1t draws In Its tongue.
chews up the ants and begins again.
1t h very umid and 20 keen of ear
that II catches every faint sound At
the slightest alarm It digs hole and
buries itself It never attacks any.
thing but insects. yet when attacked
1t defends itself With its pot~erful
claws in 4 way that makes 1t danger
ous.
When surpDised by the hunter II n
most always has its head and sAoHi
defs in hole. and It takes so tight .
grip on the earth that II the hunter
tries to pull 1t forth he II almost CIR
tain to fail.
Its hesh 10 highly priced in Africa
and It II said to taste like pork. It's
easily tanned In its native land, and
IN the days Of Egypt's ancient great
ness must have been = Pct for ladies.
as on the tomb OF Abd-el-G -Gournah 0f
the nineteenth dynasty there y
craven picture Of q noblewoman
with an orycteropus following her iits
dog.