Aardvark is an Unusual Animal Trivia Quiz

Answer: Africa

Aardvarks are found in Sub-Saharan Africa, which is a part of Africa south of the Saharan desert, in different types of habitats such as savannas, grasslands, rainforests, and woodlands. They prefer flat or slightly sloping areas. It is important to say that the aardvarks alter the landscape where they live.

Answer: Earth pig

The "aardvark" (Orycteropus afer) is sometimes called "anteater", "Cape anteater" (after the Cape of Good Hope), or the "African ant bear". The word aardvark comes from earlier Afrikaans erdvark which means "earth pig" or "ground pig" (aarde: earth, vark: pig), due to its pig-like face and burrowing habits.

Aardvark is commonly the first word found in English dictionaries because it starts with two A's. This spelling is due to its direct adoption from Afrikaans, a Dutch-influenced language spoken in and around South Africa.

Answer: 65 kg (145 pounds) measuring 2.2 m (7.2 feet) long

The aardvark is a heavily built mammal; its body is similar to a pig. It weighs an average of 65 kg (145 pounds) and measures up to 2.2 m (7.2 feet) long, including the length of its muscular cone-shaped tail which measures 70 cm (28 inches). The measurements that appear in the alternative refer to those of a horse.

Answer: Night

Aardvarks are nocturnal animals; they spend the daylight hours in their dark burrows, thus avoiding the day's heat. When the night arrives the aardvarks come out to feed. They travel 10-30 km (6 -19 miles), in a zigzag pattern, stopping frequently to find food. When the temperature is low, it is possible to see aardvarks during the day lying in the sun to stay warm.

Answer: Ants and termites

The aardvark's diet consists mainly of ants and termites; they are known to eat around 50,000 termites in one night. They can eat plants and often feed on an African cucumber known as the aardvark cucumber. They feed at night and circulate among the termite nests. Upon sensing some movement underground, the aardvark can open a termite mound using its strong claws and powerful legs.

Its sticky tongue, which measures about 30 cm (12 inches), is used to lap up the insects. Aardvarks have an acute sense of hearing that protects them from being surprised by predators.

Answer: True

The teeth of aardvarks have special characteristics, but what is most striking is that, although they are born with conventional incisors and canines at the front jaw, when they fall out they are not replaced. These animals, when adults, only have teeth at the back of the jaw.

The teeth have no enamel coating and are worn and regrow continuously. Food doesn't need to be chewed because their stomach has a pyloric muscle area that works like a gizzard to grind food.

Answer: Burrow

The aardvark lives underground, in burrows with many branches and several sleeping chambers or rooms, which are connected by tunnels. The burrows are usually 2 to 3 meters long, but sometimes over 13 meters. Aardvarks are solitary animals, living in families only when breeding; on this occasion, the burrows can be extensive networks with multiple entrances. Rocky terrain is avoided as it is difficult to dig.

Research shows that burrows are used for about 5 to 9 days before renewing or abandoning them. When a predator tries to pull it out of its burrow, the aardvark quickly blocks the entrance.

Answer: Seven months

The gestation period for these animals is seven months and ends during the rainy season. In general, only one young is born. A baby aardvark is called a "cub". A cub weighs about 2 kg (4.4 pounds), born without hair but the claws are already well-developed.

The cub stays in the burrow during the first two weeks and then follows its mother. It drinks only its mother's milk for about four months and then starts to eat ants and termites until, at 16 weeks, the cub is weaned. They are solitary animals and sex only occurs during the breeding periods.

Answer: False

False. The armadillo's body is covered in a leathery armor shell while the aardvark's stocky body is covered in a grayish brown or pinkish gray skin. Its thin skin is covered with long hair on the legs and short hair on the head and tail. The hairs are presented in clusters of three or four hairs each.

Answer: True

Aardvarks play an important role in the ecosystem in which they live. Initially, remember that aardvarks are wanderers. At night they walk many kilometers in search of food and then come back to their burrow. In this search, they dig the soil to find ants and termites mounds, eat some plants and defecate their waste along the way, thus spreading the seeds of the plants over large areas.

No other animal, in the environment that they live in, creates as many underground burrows as the aardvark, many of them at great depth. They build the burrows and, after living in these places for a few days, they renovate or abandon them. Abandoned burrows provide important shelter to many animals, such as porcupines, bat-eared foxes, meerkats, and so on, who sometimes prefer to use holes made by aardvarks. This fact also shows the great interaction of aardvarks with other animals and the environment.

They are resident animals, they are tireless, they destroy ant and termites mounds and build burrows incessantly. Studies estimate that an aardvark engaged in these activities can turn up hundreds of tons of soil each year.