Most other edentates are diurnal and almost exclusively
insectivorous, some feeding only on ants; they have unchangeable habits,
very limited intelligence, and vanish before civilization. The hairy
armadillo alone has struck out a line for itself. Like its fast
disappearing congeners, it is an insect-eater still, but does not like
them seek its food on the surface and in the ant-hill only; all kinds of
insects are preyed on, and by means of its keen scent it discovers worms
and larvae several inches beneath the surface. Its method of taking
worms and grubs resembles that of probing birds, for it throws up no
earth, but forces its sharp snout and wedge-shaped head down to the
required depth; and probably while working it moves round in a circle,
for the hole is conical, though the head of the animal is flat. Where it
has found a rich hunting-ground, the earth is seen pitted with hundreds
of these neat symmetrical bores. It is also an enemy to ground-nesting
birds, being fond of eggs and fledglings; and when unable to capture
prey it will feed on carrion as readily as a wild dog or vulture,
returning night after night to the carcase of a horse or cow as long as
the flesh lasts. Failing animal food, it subsists on vegetable diet; and
I have frequently found their stomachs stuffed with clover, and,
stranger still, with the large, hard grains of the maize, swallowed
entire.
It is not, therefore, strange that at all seasons, and even when other
animals are starving, the hairy armadillo is always fat and vigorous.
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