It's 'Aardvark Being a Cub
This little one loves digging in San D soil
How about some cute baby animal news?
That little pink cutie digging around up there in the hed gif is an aardvark calf, born in July this year to mama Padmae at the San Diego Safari Park. She’s the first aardvark born in Safari Park history and is curious, active and thriving, spending most of her time exploring the burrow, napping and nursing. She doesn’t yet have a name (or a gender reveal, for that matter), so for now the zoo is calling her Padmae Jr. The cub (the official term for a baby aardvark, although the zoo seems to perfer “calf”) hasn’t yet been presented to the public so that mama and baby have sufficient time to bond, but as per the park’s social media viewings will soon be available during special presentations and behind-the-scenes tours.
In the wild, aardvarks are found throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa. The name “aardvark” is derived from a South African word meaning “earth pig,” and you can see why, with that pig-like snout and pink coloration. However, from an evolutionary perspective aardvarks are more closely related to elephant shrews and golden moles. The instinctual drive to dig comes from their foraging and hunting habits; those strong clawed paws can excavate the dirt at a rate of up to two feet in 15 seconds, allowing them to quickly and easily get to their favorite meal, termites and ants, which they lap up with their long, sticky tongues. An adult aardvark can consume up to 50,000 insects in a single night. Their speedy digging abilities can also help them escape from predators, creating covered dens in as little as ten minutes to help them hide from lions and hyenas. Aardvarks are most active at night, typically foraging one or two miles, but they can manage up to 19 miles in a single night looking for insect dens or traveling columns of termites. During the day, they rest in burrows that they create and maintain for rest, refuge and breeding. These burrows can be large and extensive, with several entries, and once vacated are frequently sought out by other animals that will use the burrows as their own dens.
Like other aardvarks, Padmae will raise her calf on her own. Adults only pair up for mating season and are otherwise solitary, although some will live in small family groups, mostly females and offspring. Cubs are generally around four pounds at birth and grow quickly—the zoo estimates that Padmae Jr. is currently between 40 and 50 pounds. She’ll wean between three months to 16 weeks. Baby aardvarks start eating termites at about 9 weeks of age, so I imagine that the zoo is adding some extra buggy goodness to the Padmae pen just about now. Yum!
Source video here:
And a link to more Padmae Jr. content from the safari park’s Insagram site:
Ta, Martini. Any eater of termites is a friend to humans.
The baby aardvark is adorable and it lifted my spirit so thank you, Martini. There are still nice things in this world.