At the Zoo

The Aardvark is a medium-sized, burrowing, nocturnal mammal native to Africa. It is sometimes called "antbear", "anteater", "Cape anteater" (after the Cape of Good Hope), "earth hog" or "earth pig". The name comes from the Afrikaans/Dutch for "earth pig", because early settlers from Europe thought it resembled a domesticated pig. However, the aardvark is not closely related to the pig; rather, it is the sole recent representative of the obscure mammalian order Tubulidentata, in which it is usually considered to form a single variable species of the genus Orycteropus, coextensive with the family Orycteropodidae. Nor is the aardvark closely related to the South American anteater, despite sharing some characteristics and a superficial resemblance. The closest living relatives of the aardvark are the elephant shrews, along with the sirenians, hyraxes, tenrecs and elephants. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aardvark Aardvarks are nocturnal. They spend the hot African afternoon holed up in cool underground burrows dug with their powerful feet and claws that resemble small spades. After sunset, aardvarks put those claws to good use in acquiring their favorite food—termites. Average lifespan in captivity: 23 years Size: Head and body, 43 to 53 in (109 to 135 cm); Tail, 21 to 26 in (53 to 66 cm) Weight: 110 to 180 lbs (50 to 82 kg) Did you know? An aardvark's tongue can be up to 12 inches (30.5 centimeters) long and is sticky to help extract termites from their mound.

Hi Jess thanks for detailed reply and adding pic of Adult Aarvark, the ant eater See i told u it look likes anteater, yeah i have seen it b4

Hi Jess thanks for marking it as BR but u know i want u to rate my discussions as plus tooo

Your very welcome! Maybe one day you will be able to go too a huge Zoo, otherwise I will continue to post pictures periodically whenever I come across phots that are worthwhile!