Aardvark

The Aardvark (orycteropus afer) is a medium-sized nocturnal animal native to Africa. It is part of orycteropus, the Tubulidentata family. Wander through the lowlands of the continent, preferring to bypass the stone areas.
It lives in sub-Saharan areas such as savannas, grasslands or shrubby lands where it can find its favourite food.
Aardvark means "earth pig". It is so named because of its customs. The aardvark is not related to the pig. He has more in common with the elephant. Aardvark in Greek means"to dig with your foot".
Anthills, as they are also known, can be found in foreign and specialized literature under the following names: aardvark, ant bear, earth hog or ant eater.

Aardvark Food

The aardvark or anteater is a nocturnal and solitary creature that feeds almost exclusively on ants and termites. The only fruit they eat is the aardvark cucumber. It can be said that the aardvark and the cucumber have a symbiotic relationship.
It eats the fruit and defecates near visuina where another cucumber grows due to the fertile soil. The time that the seeds of the cucumber spend in the belly helps them fertilize and has moisture.
He goes out in the morning and evening in search of food and crosses considerable distances from 10 to 30 km. While searching for food, keep your nose as close to the ground as possible and your ears pointing forward. When it detects a colony of ants or termites it digs with its front legs keeping its ears upright to listen if predators approach. Once at prey it can consume up to 50,000 ants in a night.

Aardvark Features

It resembles the pig due to its long nose with which it is used to search for food and its robust body, visibly arched. The body is covered with rare and rough bristles. The limbs are of medium length, the hind legs are longer. The front legs have four toes, the thumb (Pollex) missing.
A furnace usually weighs between 60 and 80 kg. The length is between 105 and 130 cm, but can also reach lengths of over 2m. then the tail exceeds 70cm. It is gray in color, but often changes to reddish-brown due to the soil.
The coat is rare and thin, the main protection of the animal being the skin that is hard and thick. On the head and tail the hair is very short, on the body medium, and on the legs it is the longest. The hair around the nostrils helps it filter the smell from dust or Earth particles. The tail is thick at the base and gradually thins towards the tip.
The Aardvark has several unique features. The elongated head is supported by a short and thick neck at the end of which the nostrils are found. The most obvious feature is teething. Instead of having an oral cavity like most animals it has teeth only on the back of the mouth and are unique in the presence of spines.
The number of these columns depends on the size of the tooth and the age of the animal. Teeth do not have enamel. They keep growing. Another unique feature is the nose.
It has hair on the sides and moves with the help of mimic muscles. The nose consists of more bones than any other mammal. The mouth is small and tubular. The tongue is long and thin, about 30 cm. Ears are very effective. The eyes are small enough for such a big head.
chewing is not very important for Aardvark. The digestive system has strong secretions. Both males and females have an anal gland that develops a very strong odor from feces. The salivary glands are highly developed which is good because the tongue is kept sticky.
They hide in dark underground burrows to avoid hot hours and hot weather. He avoids rocky terrain because he can't make his burrow, it's hard to dig.
Its natural predators are lions, leopards, hyenas and pythons. Some locals hunt them for meat. The Aardvark zigzags when it feels threatened, and if it has to fight it will strike with its claws. If they feel stressed or have to dig for out of a pen, say, they can do it very quickly.
The Aardvark is a relatively silent animal, a good swimmer and a good digger. Can dig 1m in 5 minutes. Burrows can have several entrances and lengths of 13 meters. The burrows can be large enough that a human can enter. The burrows are periodically changed. How in Africa the shadow is sought other animals come to occupy the Dens left free(pythons, lizards, hyenas, mongooses or owls). Without these hiding places many animals would not resist.

Orycteropus afer afer

O. A. adametzi
A. A. aethiopicus
O. A. angolensis
O. A. erikssoni
O. A. faradjius
O. A. haussanus
O. A. kordofanicus
O. A. lademanni
O. a. leptodon
O. A. matschiei
O. A. observandus
O. A. ruvanensis
O. A. senegalensis
O. A. somalicus
O. A. wardi
O. A. wertheri

Aardvark Breeding

The male and female aardvark pair only during the mating season. After a seven-month gestation the cub weighs almost 2 kg. He is born in May-July. After three weeks he keeps his ears straight.
After 5-6 weeks begins to grow hair on his body. At the age of two weeks he can accompany his mother to hunt and at 9 Weeks eat termites. By the age of 3 months he is weaned.
At the age of 6 months it can dig its own burrows, but most of the time it remains with the mother until the next mating season.
Sexual maturity is achieved at the age of 2 years.