Now, D’Azara, the great traveller, doubted the stories of the natives when they said that the ant-bear could kill the jaguar, but Mr. Cumberland, who has lived much in South America and has himself killed the ant-bear, assures me that the animal is quite a match for such a wild beast. The muscles of his shoulder and arms are tremendous, the claws so hard and strong and sharp that when once stuck in they never lose their hold, and the ant-bear when attacked stands up and gives a death-hug so dreadful that the natives never dare to come to close quarters with him. Moreover, he is very difficult to kill. Mr. Cumberland, by the help of his dog and man, caught and disabled one of these creatures so as to tie his legs together and keep him stunned, but his skull was so hard that repeated blows with heavy quartz rock on his nose, the most vulnerable point, only succeeded in stunning him, and his skin was so tough that an ordinary small dagger-knife made no impression whatever. With all their efforts they could not put the poor animal to death till the following morning, when they could get a strong and sharp knife to butcher him. Such a creature as this need scarcely fear a jaguar or any beast of moderate size. Such, however, is not the case with the dull-looking hairy forms which move among the tall cecropia trees above the ant-bear’s head; for the sloths, though busy enough in the trees, would fare but badly if they were condemned to live upon the ground. The sloth is surely one of the most curious examples of how an animal may live and flourish by taking to a strange way of life. We have seen (p. 202) how his ancestors, the Megatheriums, walked upon the ground, while he himself was formerly pitied by all travellers because his arms are so long in comparison with his legs that if he wants to walk he has to drag himself along upon his elbows, and while the ankles of his hind feet are so twisted that he can only rest on the side of the foot. But then they forgot that he seldom or never descends to the ground, for the buds and leaves of the trees are his food, and they are so juicy that he does not need to come down to drink, and when he is in his natural place in the trees he is no longer helpless.