What would you get if you mixed the body parts of a kangaroo, horse, rabbit and hyena and then, just for fun, added massive fingernails? Certainly, one of the most unique looking animals in the world – the aardvark. Written by: Maria Diekmann, founder and director of REST
This fascinating creature has rarely been studied. Few are kept in captivity due to their nocturnal behaviour, difficulties with an artificial diet and the need for large foraging areas. Their teeth, located towards the back of their mouth, are susceptible to infection in captivity, but no one is exactly sure why. While found in most ranges of southern Africa and not listed as threatened or endangered, many believe that the species is declining.
The Rare & Endangered Species Trust (REST) is located in Namibia and is currently preparing a young female aardvark for release back into the wild. Caught in a snare and found on a private farm, she was close to death when given to REST. Once her wounds had been cleaned, the long task of healing and gaining weight began.
Beatrice, or “B’ as she has been nicknamed, is amazing. As a young female, she only weighs about 45lb (20kg) but adults can reach 143lb (65kg). She sleeps approximately 18 hours a day and REST supplements her natural foraging with a milkshake of food, cereals, grains, fruit and honey, both in the morning and noon. She wakes up between 6pm and 8pm and is taken out to forage naturally in the bush in the same habitat in which she was found. In the beginning, a soft rope leash was attached, but for a few weeks now B has been walking unleashed with me.
Fortunately, we have years of experience following released Cape pangolins in the bush, so all of my staff and students are used to walking silently behind a creature late into the night if need be.
Having never rehabilitated an aardvark before, I was slightly concerned in the beginning. However, my experience with Cape pangolins prepared me for the habits and needs of a similar, mainly nocturnal, ant-eating species. Like the pangolin, the information about aardvarks is conflicting and often wrong – at least in the region that I work in. Both species prefer ants to termites, and the tongue of the aardvark is much thicker but also much shorter than that of a pangolin being only about 6-8 inches long. While a pangolin mainly uses his long, narrow, sticky tongue to attract and capture ants, the aardvark digs much deeper and actually laps up the ants. During these licks of the tongue, they consume massive amounts of dirt and small rocks. These small pebbles, believed to help with digestion, are then chewed for up to 10 minutes in a crunching sound that would displease any dentist.
Beatrice has taught me so much about aardvarks. If she represents the species, they are one of the gentlest alive, as long as they do not feel threatened. Her nose, which she pushes into the hard ground to sniff out ants before digging, is as soft as velvet, and her powerful front feet have nails five times larger than humans and can move a foot of soil in less than a minute. Her back legs are used for covering her faeces and walking, which she does with a long sloping back in a manner similar to a hyena.
I have contacted a manufacturer of tracking units so that she can be tracked when released – to date other researchers have used an implanted radio device so I am gathering information on the best way forward. By Christmas 2015, Beatrice should be walking free. She will be monitored for health and safety, and I am confident that after months of rehab in the same area, she will do fine on her own.
To comment on this story: Download our app here - it's a troll-free safe place 🙂.
HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF AFRICA GEOGRAPHIC:
- Travel with us. Travel in Africa is about knowing when and where to go, and with whom. A few weeks too early / late and a few kilometres off course and you could miss the greatest show on Earth. And wouldn’t that be a pity? Browse our famous packages for experience-based safaris, search for our current special offers and check out our camps & lodges for the best prices.
- Subscribe to our FREE newsletter / download our FREE app to enjoy the following benefits.
