Over the last few weeks, we have spent a lot of time following the local wild dogs and noticed they have often used abandoned aardvark burrows as dens for the pups. Aardvarks play an important role in creating sleeping shelters for many other animals as well like warthogs, porcupines and hyenas. There is a lot of evidence of Aardvarks being around at Londolozi, but we never ever see an actual Aardvark or even hear of someone else seeing one. They are not endangered, so why is it that the only time they are seen here is with the use of a motion sensor camera trap?
Panthera’s camera trap photo of an aardvark
Aardvarks can be found through out Africa, south of the Sahara desert. This makes sense given their distribution is closely tied to the availability of food. Aardvarks are insectivorous, with the majority of their diet being made up of ants and supplemented with termites.
Living a solitary lifestyle, aardvarks are almost exclusively nocturnal. Although some have been documented trying to warm up in the sun after an exceptionally cold winter’s night. Foraging consists of five to nine hours of completely irregular patterns of movement, holding their nose very close to the ground, searching for prey. They will regularly covering distance of about 2-4 kilometres in a night.
Aardvarks are pretty unusual looking animals, with the name being translated from Afrikaans as “earth pig”. A conspicuous long nose that is actually more of a snout, houses an extremely well-developed sense of smell and is the primary means of locating food. Their long rabbit-like ears give rise to an acute sense of hearing. Not necessary for foraging but vital in detecting danger. Their eyesight is of less importance in searching for food. Therefore their eyes are small and beady and lack a reflective membrane at the back of the eye called a Tapetum lucidum. This helps to reflect light back through the cells of the retina, giving the animal a better chance of determining what it is seeing.
The reflection from the eye seen here is the same as the red eye effect that you would see in a photograph of people with a bright flash. It is simply the light reflecting off the blood vessels at the back of the eye and escaping out through a very large pupil aperture, rather than a reflection off the Tapetum lucidum.
Aardvarks move around slowly as this is not only optimal for sniffing out prey but also allows for their hearing to be at its best. If disturbed they immediately freeze, hoping to remain undetected. Running off at high speeds and down into the nearest burrow if needs be, of which there can be as many as 100 in a 1.5 hectare area. They are always incredibly alert as it is pretty risky business living within high populations of lions, leopards and hyenas. Every now and then they are caught by predators. In fact the only time I have heard of anyone seeing an aardvark here was when a leopard caught one and had hoisted it into a tree.
The Makhotini male laying in a Marla tree with a hoisted aardvark kill
Only revealing themselves after dark, it becomes rather challenging to spot them. The only real chance we would have of spotting one is if it is caught by surprise out in the open. This is highly unlikely as they are shy animals that are ill-equipped to defend themselves against danger and never venture too far from the network of burrows. Hearing the rumble of the vehicle from quite some distance away they will probably flee to the thicker vegetation or down into a burrow. At night, with the help of a spotlight we look for the eyeshine of animals, thanks to the Tapetum lucidum. With the aardvark lacking this there is no reflection from the eye so we will most likely miss one. Additionally, a pale brown, motionless, rounded back could very easily be mistaken for a rock or termite mound in the distance.
So what is all the fuss about? It is probably the elusivness of the aardvark that drives the desire to see one. We know they are around but the odds of seeing one are so slim that we don’t ever expect to.
So want to even more…
we still have to see one after 26 safari !
Hi Dina, I am also yet to see one, so fingers crossed for us both to see one soon
Such an interesting intriguing animal. It would be very nice to see one or even better a family
They are fascinating animals, and so seeing one would be truly amazing. They mostly move around by themselves but seeing a mother and her youngster would be special.
i have heard of aardvarks but never seen one live. Even a zoo they are mostly asleep and hiding. Cery interesting! Thankyou for the great pictures and the headline with the wild dog puppies. Glad they are all well for the moment. Victoria
Hi Victoria, Yes they most likely will only move around at night, even in a zoo. It is such a relief out the wild dog puppies, and we hope they continue to do well.
Sean, what a wonderful blog, I haven’t seen Aardvark in Londolozi🤗
Thank you Joan, I hope you get to see one soon.
Hey Sean! After we left you last July, we went to Tswalu Kalahari where we saw several aardvark, They were every skittish, exactly as you described. Be well!
Hi Vinny, I hope you are keeping well. That is amazing that you got to see a few aardvarks. The Kalahari is known to have higher numbers of aardvarks and the terrain is better suited to viewing them there. Keep well and hopefully see you soon.
Very useful information Sean, thank you.
You are most welcome Eugene.
Right up there with a pangolin…!
Yes indeed right up there with a pangolin, although we at least have seen pangolins around here.
An Aardvark is something I would love to see. They’re just so unusual. I always hope on the way back from night drives we might be lucky. I can’t believe no one there has seen one!! Wow – that’s it – time to start night time Aardvark walks, LOL.
Aardvarks are really unusual animals. It would be so amazing to see one on the way home at the end of an afternoon drive.
It is amazing how animals over long periods of time adapt to their surroundings.
Most of the animals have all adapted to perfectly suit their surrounding and each have a role to play out here.
All I can say is that our creator had an Incredible imagination beyond all others and a purpose for us all… how lucky we are to see such a unique creature!
Yes indeed, an imagination that baffles us all.
Aardvarks, rather like the pangolin- so elusive one barely believes they really exist. I appreciate the details you provided related to their physical characteristics and habits. Perhaps one day you’ll see one- put it on your bucket list!
Thanks Denise, I am sure with enough time being spent out here I will eventually get to see one.
Seeing an Aardvark is definetely on my bucket list. Interesting blog Sean.
Thanks Marinda
Hi Sean. We used to often go to Mabula Game Lodge in the Waterberg as we had timeshare there. We saw Aardvark twice. The first time was actually around 4h30 in the afternoon. He was snuffling around and took no notice of the Landrover at all. We watched him for about 15 – 20 mins. Most interesting! Reminds me of Piglet in the stories of Christopher Robin. Thanks so much for the article and pics! Wendy M
Hi Wendy, that is amazing that you got to see one and it was so relaxed. I guess it had probably been exposed to vehicles more often or was a bit more comfortable to be out in the open during the day. They definitely do have a slight resemblance of Piglet.
Great article on Aardvarks. Maybe one day…. Good luck
Thanks Christa, maybe one day if I am lucky.
Saw one at night very briefly in Botswana in July 2019. Better yet, saw 2 from a distance in early evening (daylight) in Namibia in Aug 2019. They definitely are easier to find in the desert during daylight hours in the winter! WildEarth has had several sightings recently on their live drives at Tswalu in the Kalahari!
Hi Lisa, yes the desert terrain makes spotting them slightly easier. On top of that, temperatures get so cold for them at night there that often they will move around closer to sunset and in the first few hours of the night then crawl down into the warmth of a burrow before it gets too cold in the early hours of the morning.
Well written story. What’s going on with the puppies? How many survived? I saw some mention of a blog telling about them all. When will that come out?
Thanks Patrick. We had released a story with an update on the pups but are sure to put out a blog on giving some more detail very soon.
Sean, What a great post. You are right! They are hard to find (alive at least!) A few years ago we sighted one on a tree like at Londolozi that with James T. Same ending for the one we saw that day…. Hope you are well and enjoying the freedom to explore!
Hi Michael and Terri. They are very difficult to see. I am very well thank you. It is truly special to still be here but is definitely keeping us very busy. I hope you are keeping well and healthy.
Fascinating information! It’s great to have a “holy grail” type of sighting to look for and forward to!!
Hi Paul, It is those “holy grail” sighting that keeps most guides going for such long periods.
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
One of the very interesting beauties I hope to see soon!
Still have not seen one, that’s why I must keep going on safari! : )
ardvark are ecologically relevant in that they are Keystone species who by their normal way of life create opportunity/shelter or increase resource partition for other species.
Aardvark eyes play important adaptation role.Excellent analysis of the eyes role.
Aardvark nocturnal activity cycle is this perhaps an adaptation to enhance survival and dietary preference.They seemingly have been specially configured to be brilliant earth engineers per say.
Aardvark dentition is another intresting area as well.Their digestive system set up too.These shy evasive members of society seemingly have perfected the art of invisibility.
Its thanks to such shy , evasive species that give the African wilderness a reason to be visited over & ever again.