Aardvark

Orycteropus afer

Appearance

Aardvarks have a very unique appearance. They have medium-sized, nearly hairless bodies and long snouts that make them look like pigs. Aardvarks' thick skin both protects them from the hot sun and also from being harmed by insect bites.

They are able to close their nostrils to stop dust and insects from entering their nose. They have tubular, rabbit-like ears that can stand on end but can also be folded flat to prevent dirt from entering them when they are underground.

Aardvarks have strong, claws on each of their spade-like feet. Their powerful feet, along with the fact that their hind legs are longer than their front legs, makes them strong and capable diggers, able to excavate vast amounts of earth at an alarming rate.

Due to the fact that they spend a great amount of their lives underground or out hunting in the dark at night, they have poor eyesight, but are able to easily navigate their surrounding using their excellent sense of smell to both find prey and to sense potential danger.

Habitat

Aardvarks are found in a wide variety of different habitats throughout sub-Saharan Africa from dry deserts to the moist rainforest regions. Ardvarks will only live in places that have good soil in which they can dig their lengthy burrows.

Despite being very good at digging in sand and clay, ares with rocks prove more of a challenge to create their underground homes. The aardvark will move to another area where soil conditions are better suited to digging. Their burrows can be up to thirty-three feet long in a home range that can be anywhere from one to three miles square. Their burrows often have multiple entrances, and aardvarks always leave their burrows head first so they are able to smell for predators.

Lifestyle

Aardvarks prefer to be alone. They only come together to mate, and are never found in large groups. Aardvarks live in underground burrows to protect them both from the hot sun and from predators. Aardvarks are nocturnal mammals, only leaving the safety of the burrow under the cover of night when they go in search of food and water, often travelling several miles in order to find the biggest termite mounds guided by their excellent hearing and sense of smell.

Despite often having a large burrow comprised of an extensive network of tunnels, aardvarks are also known to be able to quickly excavate small temporary burrows where they can protect themselves quickly rather than having to return to their original dwelling.

Reproduction

Aardvarks have specific mating seasons that occur every year. Depending on the region in which the aardvark lives young can be born either in October to November, or May to June in other areas.

Known to have babies most years, female aardvarks give birth to a single offspring after being pregnant for around seven months.

Newborn aardvarks often weigh as little as four pounds, and are born with hairless, pink skin in their mother's burrow. Baby aardvarks spend the first two weeks of their lives in the safety of the underground burrow before beginning to explore with their mother under the cover of night. However, despite accompanying their mother in search of food they aren't ready to live without their mother's milk until they are around three months old. Young aardvarks live with their mother in her burrow until they are around six months old when they move out to dig a burrow of their own.

Diet

Aardvarks' diet is mainly comprised of ants and termites, with termites being their preferred food source. Despite this though, they have been observed eating other insects such as beetles and insect larvae.

Aardvarks are built to be insectivores, which means they are built to eat bugs. They have strong limbs and claws that are capable of breaking into the harder outer shell of termite mounds very efficiently. Once they have broken into the mound, they then use their long, sticky tongue to harvest the insects inside and eat them whole without chewing as they are then ground down in their muscular stomachs. Aardvarks are also able to use the same techniques to break into underground ant nests.

Anthill

Aardvark Feeding

Predators

Despite the fact that aardvarks are nocturnal animals that live in the safety of underground burrows, they are threatened by a number of different predators throughout their natural environment. Lions, leopards, hyenas and large snakes (usually pythons) are the main predators of aardvarks but this does vary depending on where the aardvark lives.

Their main form of defense is to escape very quickly underground. However, they are also known to be quite aggressive when threatened by these larger animals. Aardvarks use their strong, sharp claws to try and injure their attacker along with kicking the threatening animal with their powerful back legs. Aardvarks are also threatened by humans who hunt them and destroy their natural habitats.

Life Span

Aardvarks tend to live for more than twenty years in captivity, but eighteen years in the wild.

Other Facts

The aardvarks' closest relatives are the elephant shrew, tenrec, and golden mole.
Aardvarks can eat from fifty thousand to sixty thousand ants and termites in one night!
Aardvarks are great swimmers and have been witnessed swimming against very strong currents.
"Aardvark" is the first word in the English Dictionary!

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse