Tutorial - How to draw Aardvark and Coloring - Homemade drawings
2Tutorial - How to draw Aardvark and Coloring - Homemade drawings
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Aardvarks are one of Africa's most elusive large mammals; they are nocturnal and spend
their days in burrows, from which they emerge usually after dusk to forage. Being specialist
myrmecophages, their prey consists solely of ants and termites. Apart from
arid zones, aardvarks occur across most habitats of sub-Saharan Africa, where they play a key
role as ecosystem engineers. Indeed, not only do aardvarks modify landscapes by generating
numerous subterranean burrows, but the burrows are also used by a wide range of animal
species as refuges from predators and temperature extremes.
Aardvark burrows will likely become increasingly relevant as thermal refuges in the context of
current climate change.
The aardvark is one of Africa’s charismatic large mammals likely to be challenged by the
predicted future climate change. Large parts of its range are predicted to experience increasing
temperatures, reduced and less predictable rainfall, and more severe droughts. These environmental changes will be particularly pronounced in the Kalahari semi-desert
at the south-western edge of the aardvark’s geographical range. Being one of the hottest and
driest regions currently inhabited by aardvarks, the Kalahari may currently represent the severe
conditions expected to become prevalent throughout much of the aardvark’s range in the near
future.
Higher temperatures and aridity can potentially imperil aardvarks in two ways: either by
affecting their physiological well-being directly, or indirectly by negatively impacting their prey
species. Populations of these social insects are susceptible to changes in ambient temperature,
plant productivity, and precipitation, and might thus be particularly sensitive to climate change.
Entire colonies of termites can be wiped out by droughts, and ants will
retreat deeply underground, depriving aardvarks of a predictable food resource.
In the Kalahari, where free-standing water is scarce, a lack of prey does not only limit the
aardvark’s access to energy but also to water. In very hot environments, mammals require
sufficient body water to support evaporative cooling required to regulate body temperature.
Therefore, a decline in ant and termite numbers will likely compromise aardvark survival by
challenging its energy and water balance. Indeed, high aardvark mortality occurred during a
summer drought in the Kalahari, and surviving aardvarks were emaciated. As the
Kalahari semi-desert becomes hotter and drier with climate change, such harsh summers may
become the rule and their devastating consequences for the aardvark population might in turn
jeopardize the continued existence of other animals dependent on aardvarks’ burrows. A crucial
step towards predicting a species' survival under future conditions, and developing successful
conservation strategies, is to understand the physiological and behavioural mechanisms
employed to cope with current seasonal fluctuations in climate and resource availability.
Despite the aardvarks’ ecological significance, no previous studies have examined their capacity
to cope with extreme heat, aridity, and fluctuating resource availability.
We therefore studied the physiological and behavioural responses of wild, free-living
aardvarks at Tswalu Kalahari Reserve (Northern Cape Province, South Africa) for two years,
beginning in the winter of 2013 that followed the summer drought. We implanted aardvarks
with VHF-tracking units and miniature dataloggers to record body and muscle temperature, and
activity. Camera traps at entrances of our study aardvarks' burrows recorded their time of
emergence, and, during behavioural observations, we scored the aardvarks’ body condition and
collected fresh scat samples for analysis of diet. The abundance of prey and its availability to
aardvarks was assessed monthly using pitfall traps and surface signs of prey activity.
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