. Mammals of other lands;. Mammals. 112 THE BEARS The Indian Sloth-bear. Few people would believe that this awkward and ugly beast is so formidable as it is. It is the commonest Indian species, seldom eats flesh, prefers sucking up the contents of a white ants' nest to any other meal, and is not very large; from 200 lbs. to 300 lbs. is the weight of a male. But the skull and jaws are very strong, and the claws long and curved. As they are used almost like a pickaxe when the bear wishes to dig in the hardest soil, their effect upon the human body can be imagined. Sir Samuel Baker says that ther
. Mammals of other lands;. Mammals. 112 THE BEARS The Indian Sloth-bear. Few people would believe that this awkward and ugly beast is so formidable as it is. It is the commonest Indian species, seldom eats flesh, prefers sucking up the contents of a white ants' nest to any other meal, and is not very large; from 200 lbs. to 300 lbs. is the weight of a male. But the skull and jaws are very strong, and the claws long and curved. As they are used almost like a pickaxe when the bear wishes to dig in the hardest soil, their effect upon the human body can be imagined. Sir Samuel Baker says that there are more accidents to natives of India and Ceylon from this species than from any other animal. Mr. Watts Jones writes an interesting account of his sensations while being bitten by one. Pholit by C. Reld] [PThiaw, A BROWN BEAR IN SEARCH OF INSECTS The photograph shows a hear feeding on insects^ possibly large ants, 'which he licks up from the ground, after scratching them out <with his clawi of these bears : " I was following up a bear which I had wounded, and rashly went to the mouth of a cave to which it had got. It charged. I shot, but failed to stop it. I do not know exactly what happened next, neither does my hunter who was with me ; but I believe, from the marks in the snow, that in his rush the bear knocked me over backwards—in fact, knocked me three or four feet away. When next I remembered anything, the bear's weight was on me, and he was bi- ting my leg. He bit two or three times. I felt the flesh crush, but I felt no pain at all. It was rather like having a tooth out with gas. I felt no particular terror, though I thought the bear had got me; but in a hazy sort of way I wondered when he would kill me, and thought what a fool I was to get killed by a stupid beast like a bear. The shikari then very pluckily came up and fired a shot into the bear, and he left me. I felt the weight lift off me, and got up. I did not think I was much hurt. . The main wou
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