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'''Aardvark''' comes from an [[Africaans]] word meaning "earth pig."<ref>http://www.awf.org/content/wildlife/detail/aardvark</ref>. A primarily [[nocturnal]] animal, it lives in burrows and feeds on [[ant]]s and [[termite]]s.

'''Aardvark''' comes from an [[Africaans]] word meaning "earth pig.".<ref>http://www.awf.org/content/wildlife/detail/aardvark</ref> A primarily [[nocturnal]] animal, it lives in burrows and feeds on [[ant]]s and [[termite]]s.

It can grow up to 7.5 feet long, has a fleshy, tapering tail, a long tubular snout, large ears and an arched back. The aardvark uses its powerful claws to break open termite nests; then it uses its tongue, coated with sticky saliva, to eat the insects in the nest.<ref>http://library.thinkquest.org/11922/mammals/aardvark.htm</ref>

It can grow up to 7.5 feet long, has a fleshy, tapering tail, a long tubular snout, large ears and an arched back. The aardvark uses its powerful claws to break open termite nests; then it uses its tongue, coated with sticky saliva, to eat the insects in the nest.<ref>http://library.thinkquest.org/11922/mammals/aardvark.htm</ref>

== Behavior ==

== Behavior ==

Aardvarks are excellent diggers, especially in softer earth. Solitary and nocturnal, they sleep during the day but will sometimes come out in the daytime to sun themselves. Males and females occupy separate burrows. <ref>http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Orycteropus_afer.html</ref>

Aardvarks are excellent diggers, especially in softer earth. Solitary and nocturnal, they sleep during the day but will sometimes come out in the daytime to sun themselves. Males and females occupy separate burrows.<ref>http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Orycteropus_afer.html</ref>

Although an aardvark is a timid animal, it will fight when it cannot flee or burrow to safety defending itself with its powerful claws or by striking an opponent with its tail or shoulders.<ref>http://library.thinkquest.org/11922/mammals/aardvark.htm</ref>

Although an aardvark is a timid animal, it will fight when it cannot flee or burrow to safety defending itself with its powerful claws or by striking an opponent with its tail or shoulders.<ref>http://library.thinkquest.org/11922/mammals/aardvark.htm</ref>