Wildlife Wednesday - Aardvark

This week's animal is the aardvark.
Aadvark by photoverulam, on Flickr
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License  by  photoverulam 
Aardvarks are known as “earth pigs” or “ant bears”.
Aardvarks have ears like a rabbit, a long tongue like an anteater, large claws like a bear, and a tail like a kangaroo. They are related to none of these animals.   
Aardvarks are the only animal from the order Tubulidentata. Their closest living relative is probably the elephant.

Aardvark by fairlybuoyant, on Flickr
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License
Aardvarks have poor eyesight, but excellent hearing and sense of smell.
Aardvarks love to eat termites. They can eat 50,00 in a sitting.
Aardvarks can grow up to 2 ft tall at their shoulders and weigh 110-170 pound.
Aardvarks by Kradlum, on Flickr
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License  by  Kradlum 
Aardvarks have very strong claws. They use their claws to dig up termite mounds and to quickly dig burrows to escape predators.
Aardvarks also use their claws as a weapon, going on to their backs to lash out with all four feet. They also defend themselves with their thick strong tails.
Aardvark by Kradlum, on Flickr
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License  by  Kradlum 

I love aardvarks! Don't you think they are adorable?  They're at the very top of my list of animals I want to see in person. I've yet to visit a zoo with an aardvark on exhibit, but I'm looking forward to the day I do.

felt aardvark ornament
I can't write about aardvarks with out mentioning our Squshies aardvark Nigel. Don’t ask Nigel to pick a favorite color, he just won’t choose, he loves all the colors
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