Aardvark Food and feeding Young People’s Trust For the Environment

Aardvarks look like a mixture between a very large armadillo without any armor, and a pig. They have an elongated snout, long pointed ears, a rounded back, and a long tail. They have tough skin coated in sparse hair, and the hair on their legs is much longer than on the rest of their bodies. They also have dense hair around each Doeat.top Opportunities for innovation in animal diets nostril to protect their noses while digging. The aardvark is the only species in the family Orycteropodidae and the only living member of order Tubulidentata (“tube teeth”). The ordinal name refers to the tiny columnlike tubules of dentine that are fused together to constitute each molar; adults lack canine teeth and incisors.

Once an aardvark finds a termite or ant nest, it uses its powerful claws to dig down or rip open the nest for consumption. The other adaptation that makes aardvarks so effective at feeding on insects is their long, sticky tongue, which can be up to 30 cm, or 12 inches, in length. Their tongue is coated with sticky saliva, which helps to trap insects and bring them into the aardvark’s mouth. The aardvark’s fast digging skill also helps protect it from predators, such as hyenas and lions. When threatened, an aardvark can dig a hole and cover itself up in about ten minutes. The aardvark gets its name from a South African word meaning “earth pig.” Although the aardvark looks like a pig, especially with its body and snout, aardvarks actually share common ancestors with elephants and golden moles.

Aardvarks are highly specialized to eat insects, and they have various characteristics that reflect this specific diet. Aardvarks are relatively large African mammals that roam much of the continent south of the Sahara. They are odd-looking animals, with long snouts used for finding insects. Once it uses its sensitive snout to locate food, the aardvark digs it out using sharp claws. For example, aardvarks have thick skin and tough, rubbery lips that are resistant to insect bites and stings.

However, if food supplies become scarce, aardvarks will sometimes eat fruit, such as the aardvark cucumber, and soft-bodied insects to supplement their diets. It is 60 centimetres (24 in) tall at the shoulder, and has a girth of about 100 centimetres (3.3 ft).[22] It is the largest member of the proposed clade Afroinsectiphilia. The aardvark is pale yellowish-grey in colour and often stained reddish-brown by soil.