aardvark information

I love aardvarks. Here’s what wikipedia has to say:

The Aardvark (Orycteropus afer) is a medium-sized, burrowing, nocturnal mammal native to Africa. It is the only living species of all Tubulidentata, but there are known other prehistoric species and genera of Tubulidentata.

It is sometimes called "antbear", "anteater", "Cape anteater", "earth hog" or "earth pig". The word "aardvark" is famous for being one of the first entries to appear in many encyclopaedias and even abridged dictionaries. The name comes from the Africaans for "earth pig" or "ground pig" (aarde earth/ground, varken pig), because early settlers from Holland thought it resembled a domesticated. However, the aardvark is not that closely related to the pig; rather, it is the sole recent representative of the obscure mammalian order Tubulidentata. The aardvark is not closely related to south American anteater, despite sharing some characteristics and a superficial resemblance. The closest living relatives of the aardvark are the elephant shrews followed by hyraxes and elephants.

Aarvarks are rare, ancient, exotic, not as endangered as one might imagine, first in line, lurking in burrows but ready to take over the world. Aardvarks of the world unite!