Aardvark
Aardvark.com · est. field notes since burrow one

Aardvark facts, straight from the burrow.

Everything on this site traces back to one animal: the aardvark, Africa's nocturnal digger and the only living member of its order. No exaggeration, no invented encounters, just what's actually known about how it lives.

Aardvark hero image
65cmAverage shoulder height
30cmTongue length
50,000+Insects eaten per night
1Living species left
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Aardvark Facts

Quick, sourced answers about the earth pig: how big it gets, how long it lives, and why it isn't a pig at all.

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Aardvark Behaviour

How aardvarks move, hunt, and spend the eight or so hours they're awake each night.

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Diet and Feeding

Ants, termites, and the occasional aardvark cucumber: what actually fills an aardvark's stomach in a single night.

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Burrows and Digging

Inside the tunnel systems aardvarks dig, and why dozens of other species move in once the original tenant leaves.

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Aardvark Anatomy

The ears, claws, and thirty-centimetre tongue that make an aardvark built for a very specific job.

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Habitat and Range

Where aardvarks actually live across sub-Saharan Africa, and the conditions that limit where they can survive.

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From the wider safari world

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Conservation stories and destination guides from a Cape Town based safari operator.
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Common questions

Aardvark facts, quick answers

Is an aardvark a pig?

No. "Aardvark" is Afrikaans for "earth pig," but the name only describes its snout. An aardvark isn't related to pigs at all. It sits in its own order, Tubulidentata, with no living close relatives.

Where do aardvarks live?

Aardvarks range across most of sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal to South Africa, wherever sandy or loamy soil is soft enough to dig and ant or termite mounds are common.

Are aardvarks dangerous to humans?

Aardvarks aren't aggressive toward people. They're shy, nocturnal, and built for digging, not confrontation. Like any wild animal, they should never be approached or handled.

What do aardvarks eat?

Almost entirely ants and termites. A single aardvark can eat tens of thousands of insects in one night, using its sticky, elongated tongue to pull them from broken mounds.

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