Posted by The Aardvark is by far one of many weird and most mysterious nocturnal mammals around, with many interesting facts and figures. The medium-sized, burrowing, nocturnal aardvark is a native of Africa. Despite the existence of numerous extinct species and genera of Tubulidentata, it is the sole surviving species of the order.
The term “aardvark” does not refer to an anteater. Both animals are different, but they have similar facial characteristics and eating habits. Anteaters are found in South and Central America, but aardvarks may be found all throughout Africa. Aardvarks reside in sub-Saharan Africa’s woodlands and grasslands, whereas anteaters are found in the woods of Central and South America. Anteaters do not excavate subterranean tunnels or dens, although aardvarks do.
With its shovel-shaped claws, it digs in while licking termites and ants with its long, sticky tongue. Each night, one aardvark consumes more than 50,000 insects! Pangolins are a group of animals with plates covering their bodies that are found in Asia and Africa. The scaly anteater is another name for these creatures.
Aardvark Facts
Tubulidentata means tubular toothed and Orycteropus means digging foot. Pig-like snout and Kangaroo-like tail. However, it isn’t associated with every other animal. The hair on its legs is darker than that of the pinnacle.
Front legs finish in hoof-like claws. Four toes on the front and 5 on the hind feet. The hind toes finish in a spade-like form. Aardvarks have sometimes colored the color of the soil within the space during which they stay.
The aardvark is another prominent ant-eating animal that is sometimes misidentified as an anteater. Only the African continent is home to this robust digging mammal. This animal is hunted for its flesh and occasionally for its body parts, the teeth of which are said to have medicinal properties. In the wild, it naturally faces predators like lions, hyenas, and leopards.
Identifying Features: Rabbit or Donkey Ears (do you know that they’ll transfer independently) aardvark information and details paw prints
Aardvark Size facts
Aardvarks are in regard to the size of a small pig. Typically, they weigh from 110 to 180 lbs. (50 to 82 kilograms). From head to rump, aardvarks are 43 to 53 inches (109 to 135 centimeters) long, and their tail provides one other 21 to 26 inches (53 to 66 cm) to its size, in accordance with National Geographic.
Aardvarks and anteaters both have powerful claws, but anteater claws are significantly longer. The aardvark is designed specifically to devour termites and ants. An insect nest is located by the aardvark by sweeping its snout across the ground.
If it caught its tongue out, an aardvark could be for much longer. Their tongues might be as much as 12 inches (30.5 cm) long. Their ears are additionally very long and may develop as much as 9.5 inches (24 cm) long, in accordance with the Encyclopedia Britannica.
Aardvark Facts at a Glance
- Common Name: Aardvark
- Scientific Name: Orycteropus afer
- Type: Mammals
- Diet: Carnivores
- Afrikaans Name: Erdvark
- French Name: Orycterope
- Territory: 2 to 7 sq. kilometers
- Can spend up to 3 Hours feeding at one termite mound
- There isn’t any seen distinction between female and male aside from the white tip of the feminine
- Burrows with offspring are longer up to 12 meters long and a few have been up to 6 meters deep.
- The average lifespan in Captivity: 23 years
- Size: Head and body, 43 to 53 in; tail, 21 to 26 in
- Weight: 110 to 180 lbs
- Current inhabitants Trend: Unknown
- Gestation: plus or minus 7 months
- No of Teeth: 20
- Single offspring seldom 2
- New Born is normally born from July to September
- The defense is by fleeing and shortly burrowing itself in a gap within minutes.
- The Aardvark is taken into account as one of many quickest-digging animals on this planet
Aardvark Traits and Facts
One of essentially the most distinctive traits of the aardvark is its teeth.
Instead of getting a pulp cavity of their tooth, they’ve quite a few skinny tubes of dentine (a calcified tissue of the body), every containing pulp held collectively by cementum (a specialized calcified substance masking the foundation of a tooth).
The teeth haven’t any enamel coating and are worn away and regrow constantly. The Aardvark is born with standard incisors and canines on the front of the jaw, which fall out and aren’t changed. Adult Aardvarks solely have cheek teeth on the back of the jaw.
The Aardvark is primarily a nocturnal mammal of a very very shy nature. The Aardvark could be very simply recognizable because it sports activities with a long thin-ish nostril and a tapered tail.
The remainder of the Aardvark is kind of cumbersome and people can weigh as much as 70kg. They have objective constructed muscular front legs armed with long-nailed digits designed for scratching and digging.
The nostril is tender, rounded, and furry with denser hair across the nostrils themselves.
The Aardvark has an enormously refined sense of odor and has a long sticky tongue that is used to swallow bugs with little or no chewing.
Aardvark has peg-like teeth and a fascinating characteristic is that the teeth aren’t coated in enamel.
The Aardvark has a stomach designed to interrupt up insects very similar to the gizzard of a bird. The Aardvark has thick and onerous facial bristles to guard its eyes throughout digging and enormous rotatable ears that are designed to listen to predators however are additionally particularly manufactured for digging as they conveniently fold away so no grime can get into them.
Females and males are advised aside by some color variations – the females have lighter tails generally nearly white in color whereas the males have darker coloration.
The Aardvark is discovered all through sub-Saharan Africa and the place ants or termites are a year-round abundance. Hard or stony soils are averted and in addition, areas of flooding or rainforests are averted. Aardvarks are endemic to Africa
Nightly walks are additionally widespread as a result of the soils for housing and foraging are sometimes totally different – that is the most effective likelihood to truly see the Aardvark.
The aardvark can dig with great drive and their dwellings can have as many as eight entrances and be as deep as 6 meters beneath the ground.
The burrows are designed to be huge sufficient to accommodate simply the aardvark as to maintain bigger predators corresponding to Leopards, Lion, and Hyena.
Aardvarks are additionally primarily solitary animals and solely the feminine is accompanied by one, sometimes two younger of various ages. Their claws are additionally designed for excavating their meals.
Even the Aardvark’s droppings are an uncommon sight as they dig a shallow scarping during which they defecate. They then use soil to cover the dung. The dung pellets are oval in form and comprise termite/ ant heads and soil particles which they can not assist but digest after they forage and dig for meals.
The aardvark’s diet consists primarily of ants within the dry season when they’re most energetic and termites within the moist season when they’re more energetic.
Aardvarks forage in a peculiar method and zig-zag throughout the veld plains smelling out columns of termites transferring above ground. The Aardvark will forage on the same mounds and can mark their favorite consuming spots by secreting from the groin glands. Most
Being primarily nocturnal aardvarks are normally back of their burrows before daybreak and can solely in some events come out after a really chilly night to catch some sun.
The discarded burrows of the aardvark are utilized by many mammals, reptiles, and even just a few birds. The Aardwolf advantages enormously because it doesn’t have the digging capabilities of the aardvark and can really feed within the wake of the aardvark.
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The aardvark stays principally mysterious due to their shy nature and lots of more research is but to be performed on them and their residing behaviors.
If you might be ever fortunate sufficient to view one in every one of these odd beauties savor the moment as a result of it might very effectively be years till you see your next one.
Increase your possibility of seeing this animal by hopping onto night or very early game drives. Give us a call for all of your tour necessities and hopefully tick the aardvark off your checklist.
The Aardvark will not be depending on water, as it’ll receive sufficient moisture from its diet, nonetheless if the water is on the market the Aardvark will devour water often.
Aardvarks are solitary animals and can solely be seen collectively formatting functions. Aardvarks have an excellent sense of odor, that is used to find out the presence of termites.
Once it’s established the place they’re the digging will start, as soon as a gap is accomplished the aardvark will use its tongue (30 cm) to search out the termite nest. Above-ground termite mounds are approached in a different way, an exploratory gap is made to determine the place the heart of the nest is.
Digestive enzymes within the saliva are swallowed with the meal which assists with digestion. Aardvarks don’t chew they don’t have canine or incisor teeth nonetheless the 20 tubular teeth close to the back of the jaw by no means cease rising.
Protection: The nostril is protected in opposition to mud and bugs by the hair inside the nostril. The pores and skin are thick and thus assist in opposition to bites. Soldier termites secrete terpene and in massive quantities will have an effect on the liver of the Aardvark. Learn more about the best-time-to-travel-to-Kenya.