Article
Article
Aardvark
Article By:
Linzey, Donald W. Wytheville Community College, Wytheville, Virginia.
Last reviewed:September 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.000200
Show previous versions
- Aardvark, published April 2016:Download PDF Get Adobe Acrobat Reader
- Aardvark, published June 2014:Download PDF Get Adobe Acrobat Reader
- Characteristics
- Breeding and development
- Threats
- Related Primary Literature
- Additional Reading
A nocturnal, burrowing, insectivorous, piglike mammal (Orycteropus afer) in the order Tubulidentata. The mammalian order Tubulidentata contains a single family, Orycteropodidae, and a single extant aardvark species, Orycteropus afer (Fig. 1). Aardvarks occur throughout Africa south of the Sahara, wherever suitable habitat exists. In previous classifications, aardvarks and the fossil tubulidentates were assigned to the now-invalid order known as Edentata and were considered closely related to ungulates. However, data from mitochondrial and nuclear genes support a relationship among aardvarks, elephant shrews (family Macroscelididae), paenungulates (hyraxes, sirenians, and proboscideans), and golden moles (family Chrysochloridae). These ecologically divergent adaptive types probably originated in Africa; the molecular evidence implies that they may have arisen there from a common ancestor that existed in the Cretaceous Period, when Africa was isolated from other continents. The members of the order Tubulidentata show the results of an extreme adaptation for burrowing and for feeding on small food items (mainly termites). See also: Adaptation (biology); Africa; African mammals; Edentata; Mammalia; Tubulidentata
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