The sun., 1919-07-13

M that the Echidnais "a tachy-
glossois egg laying mono
trematous mammal of Australia. hav-
ing q veriform tongue. a tubular snout
with the nostrils neas the tip, fossorial
feet and strong spines intermixed with
fuv; a porcupine ant eater"
But John Toomey. head keeper a.
sSe: New York Geological Park. the
Bronx Zoo, says: -
at is devilish funny beast!
Watch" ..a..
He picked up bit of;dirt from the
concrete floor Of the snake house and
dropped II into the palm OF, his hand
I Tke neck OF dirt looked like an ant, the
/. natural food of the Echidna, and
\ when Toomey held it just outside the
!, grating of the animals box it opened
its beady little eyes and glared at the
Ispeck -voraciously. Toomey held his
Inland steadily and patiently, and pres
emily the Echnida poked forth an ad,
venturing and investigating tongue
but very suspiciously, and with much
qutyaring and waving about. Toemey
iet7sthe tongue of the animal, which
looks something, like N rapier. gel
within two inches of the, speck OF dirt
and then he quietly moved his hand
an inch or SO further away.
But the tongue followed. TIL,
Echidna did not move it's head OF
: body---it was already so close 10 tn,
sido OF the box that tho tubelike
snout poked through the gratings. /
Anerely let out q little more tongue
Again Toomey moved his hand back
and more tongue came out. The heal
keeper kept this up until the palm o
his hand on which shone the bit o
dirt was foot away from the head o
the Echidna, and yet when he stoppe,
q moving his hand the beast simply 10
: out another inch or 20 of tongue an,
calmly licked the dirt from the han,
of the keeper. 1t swallowed it. too.
Tongue IL Food Provider.
That tongue is one of the man,
amazing things about this queer lit
tle.animal, which, by the way is one o
the lowest forms OF lie known. TIL
specimen at the Bronx Zoo is about
foot md half long. and its tongue /
almost as long as its body. Where |
keeps this tongue nobody seems I
know, although the theory has bee
advanced that perhaps 1t is curled u
inside its mouth like a ball of twinS
and that II sticks just enough of 1t ou
10 enable IL to seize its food. TIL
tongue Is the thing with which tn
Echidna catches ants, which are II
principal food and highly priced as
delicacy. The animal finds nice
thickly populated ant hole and imme
diately sticks its long tongue dow,
into the hole. The ants adhere to tn
tongue, which appears to be covere
with a sort OF sticky substance with
faint. not unpleasant odor. ard the
are then drawn out and into tn
Echidna's mouth. ,...
The ~Echidna comes from Australia
that home OF the most curious forms c
animal life found on the globe to-day
and scientists believe 1t is the link be
tween birds and animals, inasmuch a
itvlays an egg. matches its young an
then nurses it's young. So far as
known to science, IL Is about the onl
HIlLInuldl, with tut tACcplluIl OF vi
other Australian animal, that lays a
egg. It's snout looks something like tn
bill Of a duck. 80 that 1t IL sometime
called the duck billed Echtdna." /,
resemblance to porcupine Is yer
pronounced, and, like that animal.
doubles itself up into a ball when 1t
attacked or when II thinks It IL goin
to he attacked. But, unlike the porcu
pine,it does not shed Its quilts. whic
are brown and white in color and shar
as needies. : .'t 20 .-".-.. .t.
In.the snake house with the Echidn
are two other curious creatures froi
Austfalia--the- giant monitor and III
double headed lizard. The monte
h 10 q lizard. too. the largest lizard on III
earth, creature that Is thought
scientists to be direct descendant I
the prehistoric dinosaur. the giaI
lizard OF the cave man. which hi
bsen' reconstructed at the America
4 MUSEUM of Natural History. TT
monitor 10 an unhealthy looking rel
tiles with an elongated body supports
by fear uneainly legs. It'has tongl
like that or snake and its body term
natSs IN a long tail. which II can snS
likea whip. Its tongue II forked Ill
a snakes. and II uses IL much in Il
same manner and for the same pul
sx,nafk ana N hHar