Some people call them the 150-pound pork missile, most people call them aardvarks. They are nocturnal, burrowing mammals native to Africa, and are extremely rare to see in the wild. The aardvark as a long, pig-like snout used to eat mostly termites and ants (up to 50,000 per day). It uses its strong legs and sharp claws to dig out ant and termite colonies beneath the ground and then has a tasty snack. The aardvark look like and might remind you of a regular anteater, but they are not close ancestors. They are similar because of convergent evolution which slowly adapted their different species to specialize in similar environments. Aardvarks weigh from 130 - 180 pounds and can be up to 2.2 meters long! That's pretty massive if you only eats insects!
The aardvark's largest threats today are habitat change because they rely on a specialized diet. They are also hunted by humans, lions, hyenas, pythons, and leopards. As of right now, they are considered "least threatened" and seem to have healthy populations.
Stay tuned for more cool information on my presentation about aardvarks in a couple weeks!
Sources: http://www.awf.org/wildlife-conservation/aardvark
https://www.google.com/search?biw=1179&bih=633&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=YdN7WuL7BsmI0wLwvJ7gAg&q=aardvark+size&oq=aardvark+size&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0.39762.40181.0.40292.4.3.0.1.1.0.102.269.2j1.3.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.4.271...0i5i30k1j0i24k1.0.liPabteujHs#imgrc=7wIwwLIhOYhVaM:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aardvark
-- Romain Screve
What made you think to blog about aardvarks in Namibia? I definitely wouldn't have thought of them!
ReplyDelete- Michelle H., 2/8
Who calls them pork missiles? :P Also I'm curious how they are so large for only eating insects--is there something special about how they process food or do they just eat a ton of insects?
ReplyDeleteWhy are they extremely rare to see in the wild? Are they very threatened or are they just super nocturnal/often underground?
ReplyDeleteI like how you grew interested by the mere name of an Aardvark. As a connection to pop culture, I'm pretty sure Arthur is one? Anyone have any idea how that was influenced?
ReplyDelete-Mark Buckup