The Aardvark

Needless to say that quite a few ‘Unusual African Animals’ are nocturnal (active at night). Today I put the Aardvark in the spotlight. To read about all other animals in this series you can click here.

There are mammals that I have never seen in the wild, like for instance the gorillas and some localized antelope species like the bongo. The Aardvark, which occurs in a wide range throughout Africa, is another creature I never encountered, although I have filled up many a hole on airstrips were the little buggers had been digging for termites. Landing an aircraft and putting the nose wheel into an Aardvark hole is probably the nightmare of every pilot.

How it lives and behaves

Aardvarks are basically present in every area where termites, their main source of food, live. These termites are eaten vigorously and up to 50.000 termites a night might get acquainted with the aardvarks sticky tongue. From rainforests to dry savannas, the Aardvark feels at home everywhere.
To describe this animal one only has to think about a normal pig, with this difference that the tail is much longer, straight and more hairy and the nose, which is more elongated. Its most important feature are the claws that it uses to dig extensive burrows. These burrows provide often shelter for other animals like hyenas, pythons, bats, warthogs and other hole dwelling animals. Apart from opening up the hard soil of termite mounds when feeding, the claws will also be used in defense and when attacked or provoked, the aardvark will lie on its back and wield those razorblades around.
Getting to see this pig-like African animal on safari is not easy. Best times are early morning when the aardvark has returned from its nightly foraging and it decides to warm up in the first rays of sunlight in front of its burrow.
The teeth of the aardvark deserve a special mention. The rootless molars consist of 1000-1500 tiny dental tubes that are glued together with a cement- like substance. When the molars are worn out, they fall out and all other teeth basically move backwards. This process is continuous.

The aardvark is a solitary animal and the only time two or more can be seen together is when mom has offspring. A single young is born after a gestation period of 7 month. Completely naked, it will remain in the burrow for about two weeks before following the mother on nightly feeding sessions. This is also the time it will get introduced to the ones that are keen on eating it. Lions. Leopards, cheetah and wild-dogs are all fierce opponents. Even pythons seem to have a liking for aardvarks.
The total length of the aardvark reaches up to a meter and a half and despite eating mainly termites, aardvarks can weigh up to 70 kg.

Let me know if you have seen an aardvark before and under which circumstances that was. Good luck in finding this pig that isn’t a pig!