For Michael and Alli, today's inaguaral topic is "Aardvarks".
The African Wildlife Foundation says:
"The name aardvark comes from a word meaning "earth pig." Although the aardvark, endemic to Africa, shares some similarities with the South American anteater, the two are not related. The last survivor of a group of primitive ungulates, the aardvark could more accurately be called a near-ungulate that has developed powerful claws."
Ok...what is an ungulate?
The dictionary says that an ungulate is one of the following:
–adjective
1. having hoofs.
2. belonging or pertaining to the Ungulata, a former order of all hoofed mammals, now divided into the odd-toed perissodactyls and even-toed artiodactyls.
3. hooflike.
–noun
4. a hoofed mammal.
Hmmmm, ungulate is not that interesting. What else can we learn about aardvarks? What about their behavior?
Again, from the African Wildlife Foundation:
"Aardvarks are mostly solitary and nocturnal, but sometimes will come out during the day to sun themselves. When aardvarks sleep, they block the entrance to their burrow, leaving only a very small opening at the top, and curl into a tight ball. Especially during the rains, aardvarks may dig themselves new burrows almost nightly. When pursued, an aardvark will furiously dig itself a hole, and when attacked, may roll onto its back and defend itself with its large claws or use its thick tail to somersault away from its attackers.
As it is nocturnal and has poor eyesight, the aardvark is cautious upon leaving its burrow. It comes to the entrance and stands there motionless for several minutes. Then it suddenly leaps out in powerful jumps. At about 30 feet out it stops, raises up on its legs, perks up its ears and turns its head in all directions. If there are no sounds, it makes a few more leaps and finally moves at a slow trot to look for food."
I have learned that I am not that interested in aardvarks, but that rolling into a ball for defense is used by many animals. Also, I learned that aaardvark teeth do not have roots. Aardvarks, while not cute, can be up to six feet long.
Whelp, there you go.
