Facts about Aardvark
- 13
Certain underground fruiting plants, notably Cucumis humifructus, rely almost exclusively on aardvarks digging up and eating their fruit to disperse seeds.
- 12
Long ears roughly 20 centimeters in length help the aardvark detect faint underground movements of termites and approaching predators alike.
- 11
Speeds of up to 30 kilometers per hour can be reached by aardvarks when fleeing predators like lions, hyenas, and pythons.
- 10
Genetic studies place aardvarks within Afrotheria, a clade linking them distantly to elephants, manatees, and hyraxes despite vastly different appearances.
- 09
Solitary and elusive, this mammal ranges across sub-Saharan Africa but avoids extreme deserts and dense rainforests, favoring open grasslands rich in termite mounds.
- 08
Teeth of an aardvark lack enamel entirely and grow continuously throughout its life, composed instead of numerous thin tubules of vasodentine.
- 07
In Afrikaans, the name translates literally to 'earth pig,' reflecting early Dutch settlers' description of its burrowing habits and pig-like snout.
- 06
Weighing up to 65 kilograms as adults, female aardvarks typically give birth to a single cub after a gestation period of roughly seven months.
- 05
Aardvarks can close their nostrils completely, protecting them from dust and insects while digging.
- 04
Powerful claws allow aardvarks to excavate burrows that are later used as shelter by many other African animals, including warthogs and hyenas.
- 03
Nocturnal by nature, aardvarks use their highly developed sense of smell to locate insect colonies in the African savanna and woodland habitats.
- 02
A aardvark's elongated sticky tongue can reach lengths sufficient to extract termites and ants deep within sealed mounds, forming the bulk of its diet.
- 01
The aardvark is the only living species in the order Tubulidentata, making it one of Africa's most evolutionarily distinct mammals.