5 Fascinating Facts About the Aardvark

By Mike Unwin

Aardvark, this bizarre creature – the animal that opens every English dictionary – is unlike anything else you might meet on a safari. Although fairly common, its shy, nocturnal habits mean that sightings are extremely rare. Below are five fascinating facts about the aardvark.

An aardvark may use its ribbon-like 30cm-long tongue to gather up to 50,000 ants in a single night.
Powerful limbs and spade-like claws allow an aardvark to dig up to 60cm in 15 seconds. It seals its nostrils while digging to prevent them from clogging up with dust.
Disused aardvark burrows provide homes for many other creatures. From wild cats and wild dogs to pythons, porcupines and even the rare blue swallow.
The aardvark has an entire scientific order to itself. It is the only species in the genus Orycteropus, which is the only genus in the family Orycteropidae. Which, in turn, is the only family in the order Tubulidentata.
It is often assumed that they are related to South America’s anteaters. But the features that they have in common result from ‘convergent evolution’ and are simply shared adaptations to a diet of ants. In fact, they are completely unrelated to anteaters, and share a distant African ancestor with elephants, hyraxes and dugongs.