Alien  Earthlings

Throughout their home in sub-Saharan Africa, aardvarks Orycteropus afer (meaning “digging foot”) use their muscled legs and formidable shovel-shaped claws to create burrows up to 10 feet deep, which they use by day. They break into cement-hard termite mounds by night. This unusual animal is committed to “myrmecophagy,” meaning it eats termites and ants almost exclusively. The one culinary exception for the aardvark is the cucurbit Cucumis humifructus, a type of cucumber that grows underground. In South Africa, this plant survives near deserted aardvark burrows, earning it the name “aardvark cucumber.” This melon-like fruit ripens about a foot underground (a strategy called geocarpy), safe from rodents and other seedeaters; its leathery outer rind keeps it from rotting in damp soil. However, germination of its seeds requires sunlight, and that’s where the industrious aardvark plays a crucial role.  

With only 68 aardvarks in European zoos and just 114 worldwide, Chester Zoo is one of just a few organisations caring for the species. 

Aardvarks are native to sub-Saharan Africa, where they face significant threats from habitat loss because of agricultural development - which often brings them into conflict with local farmers. In the wild, they are also hunted for their meat. The word 'aardvark' translates to 'earth pig' in Afrikaans. 

The nocturnal animals are perfectly adapted to their underground lifestyle. They use their long snouts and heightened sense of smell to sniff out termites and ants, using their large powerful claws to dig them out of the ground. Their extraordinarily long tongue, which measures 25 centimetres, helps them to lap up large numbers of bugs as quickly as possible.