A is for Aardvark

So Debz challenged me to write about the aardvark there were only three thoughts which came to me: Cyril Sneer from the cartoon The Raccoons, the blue aardvark from the Pink Panther and the fact that it is the first word in the English dictionary, though the word actually comes from the Afrikaans/Dutch for "earth pig" or "ground pig"


Blue Anteater & Cyril Sneer



My second thought was – “hang on, Cyril Sneer and the blue thing in the Pink Panther are anteaters not aardvarks.” This then led to the embarrassing realization that I didn’t actually know the difference between and aardvark and an anteater but guess what I found out…they are actually the same thing...sometimes! Some people actually call aardvarks "anteaters" and it is an accepted form of their name however the anteater is not actually related to the aardvark at all. In fact it even lives on a different Continent being an inhabitant of South and Central America. Confused yet?. Aardvarks are also called antbears, anteaters and earthpigs.

So with that misunderstanding cleared up (in a not very satisfactory fashion) my journey of anty discovery began.

An Aardvark Vs An Anteater - which is which??? (hint: the aardvark has bigger ears)



Aardvarks are found in sub-saharan Africa and are pig-like creatures. I bet you can’t guess what they eat. Oh you can – oh well. In that case I feel less clever telling you that they eat ants and small insects. I can recapture a bit of my cleverness, however, by revealing that the greedy things can suck up over 50,000 small bugs every time they eat. They do this with their long snout and tongues.
Aardvarks have powerful spoon shaped claws and can dig a hole very quickly. They use this skill to create their burrows. They have four toes on their front feet and five on their back feet.
Aardvarks gestate for 7 months and give birth to one baby which usually stays with it’s mother until it is of breeding age itself. Aardvarks in captivity live for around 24 years.
The aardvark's main predators are lions, leopards, hunting dogs and pythons. They also need to watch out for humans as some tribes use their heart, skin, foreheads and claws to create a powder which is worn as a charm to give the owner the ability to pass through walls or roofs at night.
The aardvark’s closest living relatives are (at opposite ends of the scale) the elephant shrew and the elephant.