THE SLOTH.
The sloth is one of those unfortunate animals whose fate it is to be libelled whenever they are spoken of, and to be the victims of a prejudice which, though it is not true, everybody believes, and which it is very difficult to destroy. Mr. Waterton was the first naturalist who ventured to redeem the sloth from the charges brought against it, and to place the habits of the animal in their true light. We find in all cases, that animals intended to live in particular situations, are admirably fitted by nature for the situations they are to occupy. The sloth is essentially an arboreous animal; and as it is intended to live in trees, it finds it as difficult to crawl on the ground, as the seal does to move when it is out of the water. Mr. Waterton justly observes, that the principal reason why the habits of the sloth were so long misunderstood was, that no naturalist had seen him in his native habitation. When Mr. Waterton visited South America, he determined to investigate the subject thoroughly, and the following observations are the result.
"Man but little frequents these thick and noble forests, which extend far and wide on every side of us. This, then, is the proper place to go in quest of the sloth. We will first take a near view of him; as, by obtaining a knowledge of his anatomy, we shall be enabled to account for his movements hereafter, when we see him in his proper haunts. His fore-legs, or, more correctly speaking, his arms, are apparently much too long; while his hind-legs are very short, and look as if they could be bent almost to the shape of a corkscrew. Both the fore and hind legs, by their form, and by the manner in which they are joined to the body, are quite incapacitated from acting in a perpendicular direction, or in supporting it on the earth, as the bodies of other quadrupeds are supported by their legs. Hence, when you place the sloth on the floor, the lower part of his body touches the ground. Now, granted that he supported himself on his legs, like other animals, nevertheless he would be in pain, for he has no soles to his feet, and his claws are sharp and long, and curved; so that, were his body supported by his feet, it would be by their extremities; just as your body would be, were you to throw yourself on all fours, and try to support it on the ends of your toes and fingers. Some years ago I kept a sloth in my room for several months. I often took him out of the house and placed him upon the ground, in order to have an opportunity of observing his motions. If the ground were rough, he would pull himself forwards, by means of his fore-legs, at a pretty good pace; and he invariably immediately shaped his course towards the nearest tree: but, if I put him upon a smooth and well-trodden part of the road, he appeared to be in trouble and distress. His favourite abode was the back of a chair; and, after getting all his legs in a line upon the topmost part of it, he would hang there for hours together, and often with a low and inward cry, would seem to invite me to take notice of him."
"The sloth, in his wild state, is doomed to spend his whole life in trees, and, what is more extraordinary, not upon the branches, like the squirrel and the monkey, but under them. He moves suspended from the branch, he rests suspended from it, and he sleeps suspended from it." "It must be observed, that the sloth does not hang head-downwards, like the vampire. When asleep, he supports himself from a branch parallel to the earth. He first seizes the branch with one arm, and then with the other; and, after that, brings up both his legs, one by one, to the same branch; so that all four are in a line: he seems perfectly at rest in this position. Now, had he a tail, he would be at a loss to know what to do with it in this position; were he to draw it up between his legs, it would interfere with them; and were he to let it hang down, it would become the sport of the winds. Thus his deficiency of tail is a benefit to him; it is merely an apology for a tail, scarcely exceeding an inch and a half in length. I observed, when he was climbing, he never used his arms both together, but first one and then the other, and so on alternately. There is a singularity in his hair, different from that of all other animals, and, I believe, hitherto unnoticed by naturalists: his hair is thick and coarse at the extremity, and gradually tapers to the root, where it becomes as fine as a spider's web. His fur has so much the hue of the moss which grows on the branches of the trees, that it is very difficult to make him out when he is at rest." On another occasion, when crossing a river, Mr. Waterton saw a large two-toed sloth on the ground near the bank, and as soon as the party came up he threw himself upon his back, and defended himself in gallant style with his forelegs; but Mr. Waterton, with the kindness of heart which always distinguishes him, would not suffer the poor creature to be hurt, and taking a long stick which was lying near, held it for him to hook on, and then conveyed him to a high and stately mora. "He ascended with wonderful rapidity," continues Mr. Waterton, "and in about a minute he was almost at the top of the tree. He now went off in a side direction, and caught hold of the branch of a neighbouring tree; he then proceeded toward the heart of the forest. I stood looking on, lost in amazement at his singular mode of progress. I followed him with my eye till the intervening branches closed in betwixt us, and then I lost sight for ever of the two-toed sloth."
The armadillo is covered with a defensive armour, or kind of bony shell, divided into scales, which enable the creature to move freely, though the shell covers the head, and sometimes even the tail, as well as the body. These animals live in burrows, like rabbits, and they feed partly on vegetables, and partly on worms, reptiles, and various kinds of insects. Mr. Waterton, to whom natural history is indebted for so many interesting particulars respecting the animals of South America, gives a long account of the difficulty he had in obtaining a specimen of the armadillo, as he was obliged to make his Indians dig it out of its hole; and as these holes were almost innumerable, the first point was to ascertain which of them contained armadillos, and this the Indians did by putting a stick down the mouth of each hole, and then watching if any mosquitoes made their appearance. If they did, the Indians declared themselves certain that an armadillo was in the hole; and, on the contrary, when no mosquitoes appeared, they were quite sure there was no armadillo. "The Indians, and negroes," continues Mr. Waterton, "are very fond of the flesh, but I consider it strong and rank. On laying hold of the armadillo, you must be cautious not to come in contact with his feet; they are armed with sharp claws, and will inflict severe wounds: when not molested, he is harmless and innocent. The armadillo swims well in time of need, but does not go into the water by choice. He is very seldom seen abroad during the day, and when surprised he is sure to be near the mouth of his hole. Every part of him is well protected by his shell, except the ears. In life, this shell is very limber, so that the animal is enabled to go at full stretch, or roll himself up into a ball, as occasion may require."
The Australian hedgehog (Echidna), and the duckbill or water-mole (Ornithorhynchus), are two of the most extraordinary animals in the world. Among other peculiarities in their structure, the males have, in addition to five claws on each foot, a spur on their hind-legs resembling that of a cock, but pierced by a canal capable of transmitting through it a liquid of a venomous quality, almost like that which is imparted by the bite of a serpent. The Australian hedgehog has no teeth, but their place is partly supplied by several rows of small spines on the palate, directed backwards. The muzzle is long and flexible, somewhat resembling the beak of a bird, and it is terminated by a very small mouth, containing a long tongue, which the creature can extend at pleasure. The body is short and rounded, and covered with strong sharp spines, mixed with hair. The legs are very short, and each foot is furnished with five long and powerful claws. The tail is so short, that it was at first doubted whether the creature had one. These animals feed on insects, and burrow under ground with great strength and celerity. They will even make their way beneath a wall, or under a pretty strong pavement. "During these exertions their bodies become greatly lengthened, so as to present a very different appearance from that of their ordinary state. They keep much under ground during dry weather, and move about chiefly during the rains. They are capable of supporting a long-continued abstinence, and seem subject to a kind of numbness or peculiar stiffness, which will sometimes continue for upwards of eighty hours, and is frequently renewed when they are retained in captivity."
The duck-bill, or Ornithorhynchus, is a still more extraordinary animal than the last, as its muzzle is prolonged into a broad flattened beak, greatly resembling that of a duck; but, strange to say, there are two teeth fixed in the gums on each side the beak. The head is like that of the mole, with very small eyes, and no external ears. The tongue is double, there being one within the beak, and another at its base, which is short and thick. The legs are very short, and each foot has five toes, which are united by a membrane which projects beneath them, and in the front toes reaches as far as the nails. The hind feet of the male are furnished with the spur before described; and Sir John Jamison, in a letter published in the Linnean Transactions, relates that when a man took up one of these creatures that had been wounded, it struck its spurs into his hand with such force that they could not be withdrawn until it was killed. The hand instantly swelled to a prodigious bulk, and the inflammation having rapidly extended to the shoulder, the man was in a few minutes threatened with lock-jaw, and exhibited all the symptoms of a person bitten by a venomous snake. Surgical assistance was instantly procured, but it was with great difficulty that the man's life was saved. This creature inhabits the marshes of New Holland, and it forms among the beds of reeds by the water-side a nest of hair or wool and intermingled roots, in which the female is said to deposit "two white eggs, smaller than those of our domestic poultry, on which it sits, hatching them like a bird, and refusing to leave them unless threatened by a very formidable foe." The circumstance of a quadruped laying eggs appears so extraordinary that it is difficult to believe it; and yet all the researches hitherto made appear to confirm the fact.
THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS.
The animals included in this division have neither long nails nor claws, and most of them have the extremity of the toes covered with a hard horny substance, which prevents them from using their feet for any other purposes than those of support and locomotion; while, on the contrary, those animals which are furnished with long nails or claws, use their feet to assist them in catching and tearing their food when they are devouring it. Thus, as every animal is formed expressly for the situation it is to be placed in, and for the habits which are natural to it, the thick-skinned animals, which browse on vegetable substances, are not furnished with those organs which are indispensable in beasts of prey.