South America produces three animals with a long snout, a small mouth, without teeth, and a large round tongue; with which they penetrate into the ants' nests, and draw them out again when covered with those insects, which are their principal food. The first of these ant-eaters is that which the Brasilians call Tamandua-Gaucu, or Great Tamandua, and to which the French settled in America have given the name of Tamanoir. This animal (_fig. 124._) is about four feet in length from the extremity of the muzzle to the origin of its tail; his head is fourteen or fifteen inches long, his muzzle stretches out to a great length; his tail is two feet and a half long, is covered with rough hair, more than a foot in length; his neck is short, his head narrow, his eyes black and small, his ears round, his tongue thin, more than two feet long, and which he folds up in his mouth. His legs are but one foot high; the fore-legs are a little higher, and more slender than those behind: he has round feet; the fore-feet are armed with four claws, the two middle ones are the longest; those behind have five claws. The hair of his tail and body are black and white. Upon the tail they are disposed in a bunch, which he turns up on his back, and covers with it his whole body, when he is inclined to sleep, or wants to shelter himself from the rain or heat of the sun. The long hair of his tail and of his body is not round in all its extent; it is flat towards the ends, and feels like dry grass. He waves his tail frequently and hastily when he is irritated, but it hangs down when he is composed, and sweeps along the ground. The hair of the fore-part of his body is longer than that on the hind part. On the neck and back it is somewhat erect, and towards the tail, and on the flanks, close to the skin; his fore-parts are variegated with white, and his hind-parts wholly black; he has also a white stripe on the breast, which extends on the sides of the body and terminates on the back near the thighs; his hind-legs are almost black, and the fore-legs almost white, with a large black spot towards the middle. The Great Ant-eater moves so slow that a man can easily overtake him in running; his feet seem less calculated to walk than to climb, and to fasten round bodies; for he holds so fast a branch, or a stick, that it is not possible to force it from him.