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In addition to their sense of smell, aardvarks have excellent hearing and can detect the slightest sound made by predators approaching. However, despite their impressive sensory abilities, aardvarks do have some limitations when it comes to detecting predators.
Aardvarks have a keen sense of hearing, which they use to detect predators. Unlike other insectivores, Aardvarks have molars at the back of their jaws. They can close their nostrils to prevent sand from entering while digging.
- Amazing Facts About The Aardvark
- Where Does The Name Aardvark Come from?
- What Do Aardvarks Look like?
- Where Do Aardvarks Live?
- What Do Aardvarks Eat?
- What Predators Do Aardvarks have?
- When Do Aardvarks Give Birth to Cubs?
- What Are The Greatest Threats to Aardvarks?
Aardvarks are tough mammals that live throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. They can eat 50,000 ants a night and are brilliantly adapted to digging with their spade-shaped feet. Aardvarks are a vital part of the ecosystem as they are prey for many species, and their old burrows provide homes for other animals, such as African Wild Dogs.
The name Aardvark comes from South Africa’s Afrikaans language and means ‘earth pig’ or ‘ground pig’. Aardvarks are also known as ‘antbears’, ‘anteaters’, ‘Cape anteater’ and ‘earth hogs’.
Aardvarks are distinctive-looking animals. They look a bit like pigs but with a kangaroo-like tail. They have a stout body with an arched back, long thin head and neck and long tubular ears, which they usually hold upright but can fold down. Their hind legs are longer than the front ones, and they have powerful spade-shaped feet and claws that are ...
Aardvarks are found in a wide variety of habitats in Sub-Saharan Africa, which is part of Africa below the Saharan desert. They favour areas with ample supplies of ants and termites, such as savannas, grasslands, woodlands and bushland, and tend to avoid rocky or swamp areas, as they are less suited to digging. Aardvarks are nocturnal, sleeping in ...
Aardvarks feed almost exclusively on ants and termites and are known to eat around 50,000 in one night. They can eat plants and often feed on an African cucumber known as the aardvark cucumber. The relationship between aardvarks and aardvark cucumbers is symbiotic, meaning both species benefit. The aardvark gets a source of food, and the cucumber b...
Aardvarks are prey to many animals including lions, leopards, hunting dogs, hyenas, and pythons. Aardvarks have a keen sense of hearing that enables them to detect approaching predators. If they need to escape, they can dig fast or run in zigzags. If not, they can strike with their claws, tail and shoulders, and have been known to flip onto their b...
Aardvarks are solitary and only come together to mate; females have a gestation period of seven months. One cub is born between May and July and will remain in the burrow for the first two weeks of life. Cubs start eating termites at around nine weeks of age, and start digging burrows at six months, but remain with the mother until the following ma...
Aardvarks are listed as least concern by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The extent of threats is mostly unknown, and no particular conservation measures are in place currently. Potential threats include the bushmeat trade, subsistence hunting and habitat loss due to agriculture.
They can’t see very well, but they have very good hearing and an exceptional sense of smell. Aardvarks have four toes on the forefeet and five toes on the hind feet, each ending in a spade-like claw that helps them to dig with great speed and force.
Aardvark resting Entrance to a burrow Emerging from a burrow. Aardvarks live for up to 23 years in captivity. Its keen hearing warns it of predators: lions, leopards, cheetahs, African wild dogs, hyenas, and pythons. Some humans also hunt aardvarks for meat.
They have a very acute sense of hearing and long ears that can be moved independently, as well as folded back and closed while tunneling. Aardvarks have an exceptional sense of smell due to structures in the nose that increase turbinal surface area, improving the detection of olfactory signals.
People also ask
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Aardvark possesses a highly-developed sense of hearing. Moreover, the long ears of this animal are able to move independently, folding back and closing as the aardvark digs the ground. The webbed feet make this animal a good swimmer.
