Leaving the farm is always a little like dying.
Our life in tourism – always “on the road” – and the simple fact that the children cannot attend school out in the countryside severely limits our time in what we like to call our „happy place“.
Admittedly, it’s been a while, but the story of the aardvark deserves to be told. Long before it became fashionable to “experience nature” or “go birdwatching” or to head out with a camera and a conscious eye for “nature photography”, I used to wander our farm as a teenager, in search of myself and the meaning of life.
I remember believing I had discovered the existence of God – through the rapid growth of a blade of grass, or perhaps through the soul of an eland antelope which, I fancied at the time, simply stared at me and didn’t run away. Today, one might laugh at that, but in some way, it wasn’t nearly as silly as it might seem now.
I always walked against the wind on purpose, so animals wouldn’t catch my scent. And so, it was that I stumbled upon an aardvark busy at work. It was digging and scratching, and digging again at such a speed that one has to see it to believe it. These creatures can dig! Incredible – they almost dive into the earth.
Though this primeval-looking beast truly belongs to a class of its own – not only its own species, genus, and family, but indeed the sole representative of its entire order – God, or evolution (take your pick), gave it a pig-like snout, which earned it the name “aardvark”.
Its closest taxonomic relatives are found within the superorder Afrotheria – which includes elephants, hyraxes, manatees, and elephant shrews. So no, it’s not a pig at all.
The Afrikaaners – white Africans of Dutch descent from days gone by – call it “aardvark”. The English borrowed the term and merely softened the “v” a bit, letting the “vark” trail off with an air of arrogance, something like “aard-waak”, all while putting on that well-informed naturalist’s expression. That’s how it’s done. The Germans, more practically, simply translated the name to Erdferkel – earth piglet. Easy.
Aardvarks feed on insects – mainly termites and ants – which they locate by sound and smell, then swiftly dig out and lick up with their long sticky tongue.
When I excitedly told my father about this encounter and how fantastic it had been, he just looked pained and said, “That’s a pity.” My father had a profound connection to nature – entirely indifferent to scientific names or intellectual ramblings. He understood the deeper relationships, and he lived them, because he could truly empathise with animals.
When an unusual Ludwig’s bustard flew past instead of the more common Kori bustard, he might not have known the name, but he would immediately recognise that these slightly smaller bustards with the whiter flight feathers were arriving just now – because, out in the desert, there was nothing left to eat.
While I was busy cramming Latin grass names, he simply knew what the animals liked, what made them “fat”, and what was “bad grass” – from a grazer’s point of view, of course.
“But why is it a pity, Papa? Do you realise how incredible that sighting was?”
“Yes,” he said quietly. “But aardvarks are nocturnal. If they’re out digging in the daytime, it means they’re starving and can’t find food. Imagine being so hungry you can’t sleep – that’s how the aardvark feels now.”
Hard to say what meant more to me in the end:
Seeing the aardvark in daylight and being able to photograph it – the dream of any nature photographer –
or those priceless insights and gentle lessons my father taught me.
I believe it’s the latter.
Common name: Aardvark
Scientific name: Orycteropus afer
Order: Tubulidentata – a unique order that includes only the aardvark. Instead of enamel, its teeth are composed of tubular structures made of dentin, which is where the name “Tubulidentata” (meaning “tube-toothed”) comes from.
Family: Orycteropodidae
Genus: Orycteropus
Species: Orycteropus afer
The aardvark is a true taxonomic oddity. It has no close living relatives but belongs to the superorder Afrotheria, which also includes elephants, hyraxes, manatees, and sengis (elephant shrews).
Last Updated on 1. May 2025 by Albert Voigts von Schütz
