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| About Aardvark, Animals That Have Pig Noses And Rabbit Ears |
About Aardvark, Animals That Have Pig Noses And Rabbit Ears. Aardvark, which has the scientific name Orycteropus afer, is the name of a type of animal whose appearance looks like a cross between a pig, a mouse and a rabbit.
About Aardvark, Animals That Have Pig Noses And Rabbit Ears
Like pigs, aardvarks have a medium-sized body and a long life. And like mice, aardvarks have long, conical tails. But like rabbits, aardvarks have long ears.
Its unique physical feature is the origin of the animal's name. In Afrikaans - the language of the white inhabitants of South Africa - aardvark means land pig.
Aardvark itself is only found in Africa, but its distribution is quite wide because this animal can be found in almost all areas located south of the Sahara Desert.
Although basically they can live in any environment as long as the climate is not too dry, aadvark makes areas with sandy soil their favorite habitat.
The reason aardvark likes this sandy habitat cannot be separated from its daily lifestyle. During the day, the aardvark will make a hole with its sharp claws and sleep in it.
The holes made by the aardvark can be up to 13 meters long and have a number of branches and chambers.
When night falls, the aardvark will come out of its burrow to eat ants and termites. It is not uncommon for abandoned aardvark burrows to be used by other animals as a place to live.
Aardvark searches for insect nests for his food using his keen sense of smell. After finding the insect nest in question, the aardvark will dig up the insect nest with its strong, curved claws.
After the insect prey nest opens, the aardvark will then stick out its long, sticky tongue to catch the insect prey.
The number of insects aardvark can eat every day can be up to Fifty thousand. The insect colony whose nest was attacked by aardvark would definitely fight back. |
| About Aardvark, Animals That Have Pig Noses And Rabbit Ears |
However, thanks to the thick skin, the chemical bites and sprays released by the insects do not have a significant effect on the aardvark. Aardvark can also close its nostrils while eating so that insects do not enter its nasal cavity.
Aardvark never consumes all the inhabitants of the nest so if the aardvark is full it will disappear and the insects whose nests are attacked by the aardvark will rebuild the nest.
Despite having a sharp sense of smell, aardvark has a poor sense of sight because its eyes only have stem cells. In comparison, the retina of the human eye has both cone cells and rod cells.
In abundant light conditions, active cells are cone-shaped which also have the ability to distinguish colors.
However, when it is in a dark place, the active cells are stem cells. Aardvark itself does not really need sharp eyesight because this animal rarely uses its eyes to forage.
Have flexible ears
The weakness of the aardvark before the eyes is masked by his excessive hearing. Aardvark has a very sharp sense of hearing thanks to its long ears like rabbit ears.
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| About Aardvark, Animals That Have Pig Noses And Rabbit Ears |
Each aardvark's ear can also be moved in a different direction so that the aardvark can focus its hearing on the source of the sound.
When moving in the hallway, the aardvark can also fold its ears to keep dust and debris from getting into the ear canal.
Aardvark is a solitary animal that is very alert, so it is rarely seen in its wild habitat. However, signs of aardvark can still be detected by looking at the footprints & dirt it leaves behind.
In places of high density, some aardvarks may have a single burrow. When about to start their activities at night, aardvark will jump in and out of the hole repeatedly.
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Once he felt absolutely certain that there was no danger around him, Aardvark began to walk around looking for food while sneaking around.
Aardvark has different breeding and breeding seasons between habitats. For example, aardvark who lives in the northern region more often gives birth to their cubs from October to November.
Meanwhile, Aardvark who lives in the southern region gave birth to their child from May to July. Aardvark has a gestation period of seven months, during which aardvark parent will usually only carry one baby. The newborn Aardvark did not have hair, but could see right away.
Aardvark Video
The baby care activities are carried out by the female aardvarks who give birth to them themselves. Aardvark babies can walk with their mothers at two weeks of age and stay alive from breast milk until they are three months old.
After that the young Aardvark will begin to learn to consume insects. When it is six months old, aardvark will leave its mother and begin to live independently.
Aardvark experienced sexual maturity at the age of three and was estimated to live to be eighteen years old. An aardvark can grow up to 2.2 meters long with a tail up to 71 centimeters long.
The main enemies of the aardvark in the wild are African carnivores such as lions, hyenas and leopards. When feeling threatened, the aardvark will try to dig the tunnel as fast as possible before hiding in it.
But if cornered, the aardvark will try to defend itself by standing on its hind legs and clawing with its front legs. Apart from these animals, local residents also hunt aardvark for meat and skins.
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| About Aardvark, Animals That Have Pig Noses And Rabbit Ears |
The threat to the aardvark doesn't just come from hunting. Animals with long snouts and ears are also threatened by habitat constriction as more and more wild land is being taken over by humans.
Sometimes farmers deliberately hunt aardvarks because they see the holes they have made as a nuisance.
Apart from these disturbances, the aardvark population is still relatively abundant today, so this animal is still not categorized as an endangered animal. By: Ochie
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