#notananteater

[msjerlthesciencegirl]

When I was as kid, I ate copious amounts of the cereal, "Just Right." Because I was a weird kid, I called it, "Just Aardvark." Not to say that I was imagining I was eating aardvark, per se. I just thought it was a better name for a cereal. Or, maybe I just wanted to turn into one. Either way, I've always had a thing for these odd beasties. 

Aardvarks eat ants, but they're not "anteaters." They look like kangaroo-pig-rabbits, but their closest relatives include elephants, hyraxes, and elephant shrews. They look lumbering, but they can swim and sprint. They have teeth, but no enamel. They don't use these teeth to chew ants and termites; instead, their stomach acts as a gizzard to grind them up. They're full of mystery, aardvarks. (For a hypothesis of why they have teeth at all, see the illustration!*) 

 Aardvarks are found all over Africa, yet they are particular about where they create their homes (which can be 40 odd feet long and which they frequently change the floorplans of). Since they are burrowers, you won’t find an aardvark in a swamp, where the murk would quickly close the entrance. They also stay away from rocky outcrops. While an aardvark can easily tunnel through the hardest of dirt, rock is a no go. Which means, it is also dangerous if a predator appears. (Speaking of which, some aardvarks have been seen lying supine, flailing their vicious claws at predators if they can’t dig an escape route quickly enough.)

Aardvarks are nocturnal, and use their super sensitive and flexible noses to sniff out both predator and prey, while large ears swivel. Because they are creatures of the night, their eyes only have rods-- which means they can see great in low light, but no color. To catch their prey-- termites and ants-- aardvarks use 12" long, insanely sticky tongues. A ring of salivary glands embedded in their necks constantly replenish the stickiness. In addition, they can seal their fur-lined nostrils when they dig, and the hairs help filter dirt before it reaches their respiratory systems. 

One interesting habit of the aardvark is that they're resource savvy. If they visit a termite mound or two and eat 50,000 insects in a night (possible for an aardvark!), they will not go back to that same area until those mounds have had time to recover. Another fascinating thing? Like crocodiles, aardvarks haven't changed much in millennia, making them one of the most ancient and best adapted species on the planet. 

*(Fun note: According to my copy of “The Ghosts Of Evolution: Nonsensical Fruit, Missing Partners, and Other Ecological Anachronisms” by Connie Barlow, aardvark cucumber fruits start their growth process ABOVE the ground, on stalks. At some point in their development, the plants drag their fruiting bodies underground where only aardvarks can find them! The fruit aren’t always subterranean like, say, legumes or tubers! How the plant manages this, I have no idea. If anyone can provide me with an explanation-- you get a cookie!)