Scientists collect aardvark poop to understand how the species is impacted by climate in Africa

They also have long, sticky tongues that they use to capture insects, which helps to keep them at a safe distance from the insects’ mandibles. Beetles and grubs are often found in decaying logs or in the soil, and once again, it is aardvarks’ sense of smell and claws that enable them to locate and eat these insects. As other good sources of protein and other nutrients, these other insects help to supplement their diet in the wild. Aardvarks use their claws to dig up the fruit, and then use their powerful jaws to crack open the hard outer shell to access the fleshy interior.

This mixture provides the aardvark with all the nutrients they need and are a good substitute for their natural diet. All of these adaptations work together to make aardvarks highly specialized – and effective predators of insects that live in the soil. In South Africa, the genetic information they gathered suggested three regional divisions of aardvarks, indicating that animals in western, central and eastern regions of South Africa were somewhat isolated from each other.

If threatened while away from a sheltering burrow, an aardvark can dig its way out of sight in five minutes. An acute sense of hearing protects it from being surprised by predators, which include pythons, lions, leopards, and hyenas. If a predator tries to dig it out of its burrow, the aardvark rapidly moves soil to block the tunnel behind itself. The nocturnal animals use their long noses and keen sense of smell to sniff out ants and termites, which they lap up with an anteater-like tongue covered in sticky saliva. These insects make up most of the aardvark’s diet, although they’ll occasionally eat beetle larvae. The aardvark is found over much of the southern two-thirds of the African continent, avoiding areas that are mainly rocky.

Aardvarks are the only living member of the order Tubulidentata, and their most closely living relatives include golden moles, elephants and manatees. As night falls, aardvarks will emerge cautiously from their dens, jumping around on the lookout for predators. They are able to see at night, but otherwise have poor vision and are color-blind. They rely on their senses of sound and smell, using their long ears and snouts to get around and find insects.

Gestation lasts eight months, after which a female births a single cub. The baby, hairless and about six pounds, is born during a peak time of food availability—either before or during the rainy season. As burrowing mammals with porcine snouts, aardvarks are true to their name, which translates to “earth pig” in the Afrikaans language. Ants also provide a good source of protein and other nutrients for aardvarks. So they are a good alternative to termites when they are not available.

Recent research suggests that aardvarks may be particularly vulnerable to alterations in temperature caused by climate change. Aardvarks are amazing, and unique animals that have a highly specialized diet consisting mainly of insects, with termites being their primary food source. Aardvarks are well adapted to feeding on insects, Doeat.top The importance of diet for animals with several unique physical adaptations that help them to locate, capture, and consume their prey. As we have seen, aardvarks have several physical adaptations that make them highly effective at feeding on insects in the soil. It allows them to root through the soil and dig deep into termite mounds to access their prey.

A nocturnal feeder, it subsists on ants and termites, which it will dig out of their hills using its sharp claws and powerful legs. It also digs to create burrows in which to live and rear its young. The animal is listed as “least concern” by the IUCN, although its numbers are decreasing. Aardvarks are afrotheres, a clade which also includes elephants, manatees, and hyraxes. Ants are more plentiful during the wet season, whilst termites are more common in the dry season.

They give birth to a single baby, called a “cub,” within their burrow. The aardvark cub is very wrinkly, with floppy ears when it is first born. After three weeks it will grow into the folds and be able to hold its ears upright.

Their population levels are stable, but they are in a somewhat precarious position. Besides their unique appearance, aardvarks have a number of other traits that you may not know about. An aardvark features as the antagonist in the cartoon The Ant and the Aardvark as well as in the Canadian animated series The Raccoons. The aardvark is known to be a good swimmer and has been witnessed successfully swimming in strong currents.[31] It can dig a yard of tunnel in about five minutes,[30] but otherwise moves fairly slowly. In Zambia and Mozambique, the bushmeat trade is a threat to aardvarks, according to the IUCN.

Just like what they do for termites, aardvarks locate ant colonies using their well-developed sense of smell, and they use their tongue to capture them. While ants are not as important a food source as termites for aardvarks, they are still a valuable and significant part of their diet in the wild. The aardvark is a fascinating animal that is known for its unique physical features, its ability to dig burrows, and its nocturnal behavior. Another interesting thing about aardvarks is their diet, which is primarily made up of insects – but not only.

The Oregon State researchers believe the species is understudied because they are nocturnal, hard to trap and exist in low densities across large and often remote landscapes. Though aardvarks remain widespread, humans are the aardvark’s biggest threat. Some landowners don’t like the holes that aardvarks leave behind and kill the aardvarks. The use of pesticides to grow crops on land inhabited by aardvarks has also reduced the number of insects available for aardvarks to eat.

The squadron mascot was adapted from the animal in the comic strip B.C., which the F-4 was said to resemble. They are very secretive animals so very little is known about their way of life. The International Union for the Conservation of Species considers the aardvark a species of “least concern,” meaning their populations are stable. The species has robust numbers in protected areas, such as South Africa’s Kruger National Park. They then used the genetic information to infer aardvark distribution and movement across the landscape. For example, if genetic testing showed that fecal samples collected in different spots came from the same aardvark, they then used this information to determine the scale of individual movements.

The split between this ancestral African stock and that leading to the ungulate, carnivore, xenarthran, and cetacean orders occurred as much as 90 million years ago. Fossils indicate that Tubulidentata was recognizable about 54 million years ago. Despite often being compared to pigs and South American anteater, aardvarks are not related to them.

Wrapped in a piece of skin and worn on the chest, the charm is said to give the owner the ability to pass through walls or roofs at night. These mammals are myrmecophagous, which means that ants and termites make up the vast majority of their diet. The aardvark and the aardvark cucumber have a symbiotic relationship, which means both creatures benefit from the interaction.

Individuals were detected at multiple locations separated by up to 7 kilometers, indicating that home ranges could be larger than previously determined, particularly in arid areas where food resources may be low. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature lists aardvarks in the category of “least concern,” in part due to the broad range of ecosystems they inhabit. However, little is known about current population trends or their actual distribution across the landscape.