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Small mammals
Aardvark
Aardvark · Orycteropus afer
The aardvark digs through savannahs and bushland at night, always on the lookout for termites and ants.
Fact file
- Size
- Head-body length 1 to 1.5 metre, weight usually 60 to 80 kilograms
- Males and females
- Males and females are hardly distinguishable by appearance
- Sounds
- Soft grunting sounds while foraging, otherwise very quiet
- Diet
- Exclusively ants and termites, which it picks up with its long, sticky tongue
- Offspring
- A single young is born after about 7 months of gestation between May and October
How to identify Aardvark
The aardvark is unmistakable, with a grey-brown, almost naked body, a powerful, barrel-shaped torso and a long tail. Its head is strikingly elongated with a slender snout and large ears, which gives the aardvark an almost fairy-tale look.
At up to 1.5 metre in length and around 60 kilograms, its silhouette looks stocky, with short, muscular legs. Particularly striking are the strongly curved digging claws on the front feet and the long ears it carries upright.
More in the app
With Wildful Stories+ you also get in the app:
- general viewing tips
Where Aardvark live
Namibia
- Kwando Core Area
- Brandberg
- Buffalo Core Area
- Bwabwata Nationalpark
- Dolomite & Olifantsrus
- Erongo Gebirge
- Fish River Canyon
- Halali
- Hoanib
- Kalahari
- Mahango Core Area
- Mudumu Nationalpark
- Namib-Naukluft Nationalpark
- NamibRand Nature Reserve
- Namutoni
- Nkasa Rupara National Park
- Okaukuejo
- Palmwag
- Rundu
- Sossusvlei
- Spitzkoppe
- Twyfelfontein
- Waterberg Plateau
Discover Aardvark on your trip.
The app shows you where and when to see wildlife along your route.
