Aardvark

Aardvarks eat ants and termites.

They dig open the insects' nests with their claws. Then they lick up the insects with a long, sticky tongue.

Aardvarks eat almost nothing but ants and termites. At night an aardvark walks long distances along familiar paths in a zigzag, stopping often to sniff and press its snout against the ground. When it finds a nest, its strong claws open even a termite mound that is as hard as cement.

Then out comes a sticky tongue up to 30 centimeters long to lap up the insects. The aardvark swallows them with little or no chewing, and its thick skin protects it from bites and stings.

The diet is almost entirely ants and termites, which Animal Diversity Web says are mostly ants. Britannica describes nightly journeys of 10 to 30 kilometers along familiar zigzag paths, with frequent pauses to sniff and press the snout to the soil; fleshy sensory organs on the nasal septum probably detect tiny underground movements. Animal Diversity Web gives a much shorter 2 to 5 kilometers; the two sources differ.

Claws open cement-hard mounds, the nostrils squeeze shut against dust, and a sticky tongue extending about 30 centimeters sweeps insects into the small mouth. Food is swallowed with little chewing and digested in a muscular, gizzard-like stomach. Thick hide protects against bites and stings, and colonies are rarely destroyed.

Aardvarks come out at night.

They are shy and like to be alone. Before leaving the burrow, an aardvark looks around, runs out and jumps around.

Aardvarks are shy, live alone and come out at night, so people rarely see them. Usually only their tracks, burrows and claw marks show they are around. Adults meet only to mate, and a mother lives with her baby.

Leaving home is a careful business. An aardvark stops at the entrance to check for danger, then runs out, jumps several times, looks around and jumps again before trotting off. Aardvarks grunt, and bleat when very frightened.

Aardvarks are solitary and territorial, the sexes associating only to breed, though large burrows in good areas may hold two or three animals. Home ranges cover about 2 to 5 square kilometers. Both sexes have glands on the elbows and hips, perhaps used in spacing or mating, though obvious scent marking has not been reported.

Emergence follows a ritual: a pause at the entrance, a dash out, repeated jumps and scanning, then a trot away. Acute hearing guards against surprise by pythons, lions, leopards and hyenas. A threatened aardvark digs out of sight in minutes, blocks a tunnel behind itself if a predator digs after it, and, if cornered, defends itself with its front claws.

Aardvarks live in many parts of Africa, but they are hard to see.

Aardvarks help farmers by eating termites. Many other animals live in their old holes.

The IUCN lists the aardvark as Least Concern, and it lives across a huge part of Africa. But aardvarks have disappeared from many farming areas, and some people hunt them for meat and skins. Because they hide by day, scientists know little about how many there are.

Aardvarks are good neighbors. They eat termites that could damage crops, and the burrows they leave behind become homes for warthogs, African wild dogs and many other animals.

The IUCN assessed the aardvark as Least Concern in 2014, listing livestock farming and hunting among threats. Britannica notes that, mainly because aardvarks are nocturnal, little is known about their population status, but that they are not endangered. Animal Diversity Web adds that they have been exterminated in many agricultural areas and are vulnerable in settled regions; aardvark products are subject to trade restrictions.

Their ecological role is large for a shy animal. Abandoned burrows provide dens for species such as the African wild dog and the warthog, and by eating termites aardvarks indirectly benefit people in areas where termites would otherwise damage crops.