Page 12 - Atlas Of The World's Strangest Animals

12 ATLAS OF THE WORLD’S STRANGEST ANIMALS

‘Aardvark’ is famously one of the first words you’ll find in
Aardvark habitats
an English language dictionary.The name comes from
Dutch Afrikaans and means ‘earth pig’, which is exactly
what European settlers thought these strange mammals
looked like. However, although these shy and solitary
creatures do have piglike bodies, they’re no relation.
In fact, genetically speaking, aardvarks are a puzzle.
When classifying living things, scientists begin by
looking for similarities between known species. But can
you think of any other burrowing, nocturnal mammal that
has a powerful tail, rabbit-like ears, webbed toes, claws
resembling hooves and a long sticky tongue? It’s a problem
that has stumped scientists for decades.
Initially, the solution was to choose a ‘best fit’ by placing
the aardvark in the same order as armadillos and sloths
(Edentata). Later, a new order was created especially for the
aardvark – Tubulidentata. Edentata means ‘toothless ones’
and armadillos and sloths both lack front, incisor teeth.
Adult aardvarks have no front teeth either, but they do seem to be living fossils.They may have been very
possess extremely odd ‘cheek teeth’ at the back of their successful as a species, but they’re an evolutionary dead
jaws. In place of the usual ‘pulp’ in the centre of each end.They have distant relatives today, including
tooth are fine tubes bound together by a hard substance elephants, and their common ancestor probably dates
called cementum. Hence the name ‘Tubulidentata’, meaning back to the moment when the African continent split
tube-toothed. from the other landmasses.
To date, the aardvark is the only known member of the
order ‘Tubulidentata’ and the situation is likely to remain Terrific tunnellers
that way.Although a few fossilized remains have been From grassy plains to woodland scrub, aardvarks enjoy
found, they provide no clues to the aardvarks’ ancestry or a variety of habitats, but you’re unlikely ever to see one
their relationship to other species.These curious beasts ‘in the flesh’.That’s because they spend much of the day

Comparisons

With their thickset bodies, stocky limbs and long snout, the giant
pangolin (Manis gigantea) of west Africa resembles an heavily Giant Pangolin
armoured aardvark.Although the two mammals are not related, they
have similar body shapes, due to similar lifestyles – both eat termites.
Despite their name, giant pangolins are actually smaller than aardvarks.
The largest males grow up to 1.4m (4.6ft), although their overlapping
scales make them look bulkier.

Aardvark

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.