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Title: Biology of the Aardvark (Orycteropus afer)
Author: Joachim Knothig
Establishment: Heidelberg University
Summary: A thesis carried out to increase the knowledge of this unusual creature and increase the understanding of its natural behaviour. A literature search was carried out, as well as questionnaires sent to game parks in Africa and zoos holding aardvarks in captivity.
Complete article:
The thesis at hand represents the first encyclopaedic description of the biology of the aardvark (Orycteropus afer). This extraordinary mammal resembles no other animal on earth. The aardvark is the only recent representative of the order Tubulidentata and represents the last survivor of the primeval hoofed animals (Protungulata) and thus is rightly called a ‘living fossil’. Numerous books, articles and internet pages have been researched and the most important information on the aardvark has been condensed into this work. In addition to the literature research a survey was run. African game parks and zoos keeping the aardvark were successfully asked in order to obtain some new findings on open questions concerning the aardvark. This work has to be understood as a means to learn about the different aspects of the aardvark’s biology. It presents them in a way that gives a complete overview but nevertheless goes into detail deep enough to understand what is behind.
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