The trumpet , or the African aardvark , or the Cape aardvark [1] ( lat. Orycteropus afer ), is a mammal species, the only modern representative of the order of the tooth - toothed (Tubulidentata).
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Initially, the aardvark was attributed to the same family as the South American anteaters because of a number of striking features of the structure; however, the superficial similarity with them was the result of a convergent evolution - adaptation to feeding on termites and ants . The evolutionary origin of the order of the tooth-tooth squad remains unclear; he is probably close to sirens , damans and proboscides . The oldest fossil-toothed fossils found in Kenya date back to the early Miocene . At the end of the Miocene and early Pleistocene, representatives of the detachment, similar to the modern species, lived in Southern Europe and Western Asia , as well as in Madagascar ( Plesiorycteropus ).
By the beginning of the 21st century, aardvarks were preserved only in Africa, where they are widespread throughout sub- Saharan Africa , with the exception of the jungles of Central Africa . Populations in the Nile Valley and in the Tassili mountain range ( Algeria ) have become extinct.
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Title
The scientific name of the species is derived from Orycteropus , Greek. “Burrowing limbs”, and afer , derived from “Africa”. Dutch colonists gave the aardvark the name "aard-vark", which means "earthen pig" (the same name passed into English), because of its external resemblance to a pig and digging holes [2] . African tribes for a long time called the trub-tooth "Abu-delaf" - "father of claws", because of his massive straight claws, with which he digs the ground and fights off predators . The trumpet-toothfish digs burrows perfectly, it is considered one of the best "diggers" in the world.
Appearance
The Aardvark is a medium-sized mammal that looks like a pig with an elongated muzzle, bunny ears and a strong muscular tail, similar to a kangaroo's tail.
It received its Russian name because of the peculiar structure of molar teeth , which consist of accreted dentin tubules, lack enamel and roots and are constantly growing. Newborn aardbears have fangs and incisors, but in adults there are only 2 fore-root and 3 molars in each half of the jaw (20 teeth in total). The remaining teeth are missing. The olfactory region of the skull is greatly enlarged; Smell is the strongest feeling. Inside the snout of the labyrinth there is a kind of labyrinth of 9-10 thin bones, which is uncharacteristic for other mammals.
The body length of an adult aardvark is 100–158 cm, the tail is 44–71 cm, the height at the shoulders is 60–65 cm. It weighs up to 100 kg, usually 50–70 kg. Females are a bit smaller than males, with a white tail tip (obviously, this allows cubs in the dark to follow the mother). The skin is thick, covered with sparse, bristly hair of protective, yellowish or brownish, color. On the limbs, the hair is usually darker than on the body. The muzzle and tail are whitish or pinkish. The muzzle is elongated in a long tube, at the end there is a cartilaginous “patch” with round nostrils. The tongue is long, sticky. There are many hard, long vibrissae on the muzzle; near the nostrils are sensitive areas. Ears are tubular, 15-21 cm long. Eyes are small; like many nocturnal animals, the aardvark does not distinguish colors. The limbs are powerful, adapted to the digging and destruction of termite mounds ; front with 4 fingers, rear - five-fingered. Finger-nose clover, but during digging it lowers its hind paws on the entire foot for stability [3] . All the fingers, especially on the front paws, are armed with strong claws, which partly resemble the hoof. In females, two pairs of nipples, abdominal and inguinal; double uterus (Uterus duplex), like a rodent .
There are about 15-18 subspecies of aardbearers, most of which, however, are represented by isolated specimens. The best known are Orycteropus afer aethiopicus (Sundevall, 1843) , Orycteropus afer senegalensis (Lesson, 1840) and Orycteropus afer afer (Pallas, 1766) .
Lifestyle and nutrition
The trumpet-cube lives in a wide variety of landscapes , avoiding only the dense rain forests of Equatorial Africa, swamplands, and also areas of stony soil where it is difficult to dig. In the mountains are not found above 2000 m. Prefers savannah . Oryctes often inhabit areas that are flooded during the rainy season, since their loose soil is most suitable for digging. The main factor limiting the number and distribution of the species is probably the presence of ants and termites - the main food of the aardvark.
This secretive, unobtrusive animal is active only at night. Occasionally the aardvark can be seen when it is heated in the sun by the burrow. Even in hard, dry ground, he quickly digs holes with his strong front paws; in a soft digging pits faster than a few people with shovels. Able to easily break through the strong walls of termites. A 1 m deep pit digs out in less than 5 minutes. The normal aperture of the auricle has the appearance of a 2–3 m long; nested deeper and longer, up to 13 m, with several exits and ends with a spacious camera. There is no bedding in the burrow. The entrance with a diameter of 50-60 cm represents the narrowest place of the hole; outside, it is often camouflaged with bushes or tall grass. Sometimes aardbugs occupy old termitaries; in addition to the permanent ones, there are also temporary holes in which they can rest during the day. The burrows of the aard dwells serve as a haven for many animals, including hyenas , jackals , Cape damans , porcupines , genetas and mongooses , as well as reptiles, birds and bats . In some areas, the prevalence of warthogs is directly related to the availability of empty burrows of aardvark. Aardvark is a solitary and, apparently, territorial animal. The feeding area is 2-4.7 km². Only in forage-rich places can the anticorrests be able to settle in entire colonies with interconnecting burrows. Females can be accompanied by grown-up young growth of the previous year of birth.
In search of food, this beast is sent only after 1-2 hours after sunset. He passes his forage territory along permanent paths, visiting termitaries and anthills at intervals of about 1 time per week. It moves in zigzags, dropping its muzzle to the ground and sniffing loudly. During the night, the aquarium aquarium travels 8–12 km (maximum 30 km), searching for “paths” of termites and ants , along which it comes to insect nests, punches a hole with a claw diameter of 30-40 cm and feeds on them. It also eats “columns” of insects leaving their homes in search of food. The tongue of the aardvark, like that of the anteater , is long - it can protrude 20-30 cm from the mouth, is covered with sticky saliva and is very mobile. Overnight, aardvark is able to eat up to 50,000 termites. Thick skin protects it from insect bites; he is able to go to bed right in a freshly opened anthill.
Earthen wolves often follow the aardvarkas , which eat the termites from the termites dug up by the anticorns. By themselves, these animals are not strong enough to reveal the strong walls of termite mounds.
Termites aardvark eats mainly in the wet season, ants - in the dry. Termites used by them mainly belong to the genera Trinervitermes , Cubitermes and Macrotermes ( savanna ) and Macrotermes and Hodotermes (rain forests); termites of the genera Odontotermes , Microtermes and Pseudocanthotermes are also eaten. Ants - genera Anoplepis , Camponotus , Crematogaster , Dorylus and Typhlophone . Two fat hamsters ( Steatomys pratensis ) were found in the stomach of a single specimen caught in Botswana , but this case is regarded as not typical. The Aardvark also eats larvae of beetles , locusts and other orthopterans , according to some information - mushrooms , fruits and berries. The aardvark is apparently the only animal that participates in the distribution of cucumber seeds of the species Cucumis humifructus , whose ripe fruits it digs for moisture from the ground in the dry season (from a depth of about 30 cm).
In captivity, aardcrews are fed with meat , eggs , milk and cereals with vitamin and mineral supplements.
Aardvark is rather slow and clumsy. At the slightest suspicious rustle, he hides in a hole or buries. Taken aback, defended by powerful front paws, or falls on his back and is protected by all paws and muscular tail. Swims well Its natural enemies are the lion , leopard , cheetah , hyenoid dogs and pythons ( Python sebae ), smaller predators cannot cope with the aardvark. The main enemies of aardbears are spotted hyenas and humans. Hyenas and pythons tend to prey on young animals.
As a rule, aardvarks are silent, only with a strong fright emit a sort of lowing scream. The usual sounds they make are noisy sniffing and grunting.
Reproduction
Oryctes presumably polygamous. Pregnancy lasts about 7 months and ends with the birth of one, rarely two cubs. Most births in captivity occur in February, March and June; in nature, breeding peaks vary depending on the habitat - for example, in Central Africa it occurs in October — November, in South Africa — in May — July. Newborns weigh from 1.8 to 2 kg with a length of 55 cm, have developed claws. Up to 2 weeks, they do not leave the burrows, later accompany the mother at night feeding. At the age of 14 weeks, they begin to eat ants; milk feeding lasts up to 16 weeks. At the age of 6 months, young aardbugs already dig their own holes, but they usually stay with their mother until the next mating season. The size of an adult animal reaches 12 months. Sexual maturity comes in 2 years. In nature, they can live to 18 years, in captivity - to 24 years; of the 58 cubs born in zoos from 1962 to 1980, 63% died at an early age.
Population status
Despite the fact that the trumpet teeth are sometimes hunted for the sake of meat that tastes like pork [2] , strong skin and teeth, this species is not among the protected ones. Its number is unknown, but presumably gradually decreases. In some areas (especially agricultural), it is almost completely exterminated. The Aardvark brings some benefit by controlling populations of termites that harm crops. However, the burrows of the aurucks often spoil agricultural land. From July 1, 1975, the aquarium aquarium is listed in Appendix II to CITES .
Currently, aardvark is found in the following countries: Angola , Botswana , Burkina Faso , Burundi , Gambia , Ghana , Guinea-Bissau , Democratic Republic of Congo , Djibouti , Zambia , Zimbabwe , Cameroon , Kenya , Malawi , Mali , Mozambique , Namibia , Niger , Nigeria , Rwanda , Senegal , Somalia , Sudan , Sierra Leone , Tanzania , Uganda , Chad , Eritrea , Ethiopia , South Africa .
Aardvark in culture
- The ancient Egyptian god of the desert and destruction Seth was sometimes depicted with a trumpet-tooth head.
- In 2016, the flag with the image of the trumpet-tooth became the symbol of the Moscow Theater.doc Implicit Impact (dir. Vsevolod Lisovsky ) [4] .
- In 2017, the Linux operating system Ubuntu version 17.10 "Artful Aardvark" was named after the aardvark - "Tricky Tube-Tooth".
Aardvark and man
African tribes and white colonists killed the trumpet for various reasons. These animals dug deep holes, which often stumbled the horses of Dutch and British settlers, who received injuries and injuries because of this. That is why the colonists began to kill the aardcrews, eat their meat and make straps and harness from their skin. . Native Africans hunted the trumpet-tooths for leather bracelets and claw amulets, allegedly bringing good luck and happiness.
Notes
- ↑ Sokolov V. Ye. The five-language dictionary of animal names. Mammals. Latin, Russian, English, German, French. / edited by Acad. V.E. Sokolova. - M .: Rus. lang., 1984. - p. 123. - 10,000 copies.
- 2 1 2 The Oxford Companion to Food / Alan Davidson, Tom Jaine. - Oxford University Press , 2014. - p. 193. - ISBN 978-0-19-104072-6 .
- ↑ Aardvark Skeleton (English) . Archived April 28, 2013.
- ↑ Fetisova M. Implicit impacts // www.afisha.ru. - 2016— 1 Aug.
Literature
- Shoshani, J, Goldman, CA and Thewissen, JGM Orycteropus afer // Mammalian Species. - American Society of Mammalogists, 1988. - No. 300 . - p . 1-8 .
- Wilson DE & Reeder DM (eds). Mammal Species of the World . - 3rd ed. - , 2005. - Vol. 1. - P. 743. - ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 . OCLC 62265494 .
- Fox, D. 1999. Orycteropus afer (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed April 08, 2007.