aardvark v. anteater
Friday, June 18, 2010 
A tamandua… wearing a shirt… standing on a dryer… for some reason. Aardvarks and anteaters are unrelated mammals living on different continents. Both animals are myrmecophagous, meaning that they eat ants and termites. These creatures occupy comparable ecological niches, and convergent evolution has endowed them with similar features, such as elongated heads and long, flexible, sticky tongues.
Aardvark is Afrikaans for ‘earth pig’. Aardvarks have stout bodies with arched backs, and long, pig-like snouts. They are related to elephant shrews, hyraxes, and elephants.
There are 4 species of anteaters: the giant anteater, the silky anteater, and the southern and northern tamanduas. Anteaters are related to sloths. Though not true anteaters, aardvarks, pangolins, echidnas, and numbats are sometimes colloquially called ‘anteaters’.
| Feature | Aardvark | Anteater |
|---|---|---|
| Order | Tubulidentata (1 species) | Pilosa (4 species) |
| Range | Sub-Saharan Africa | Central and South America |
| Habitat | savanna, scrub, and woodlands | riverbanks, swamps, and humid forests |
| Abode | underground burrow | aboveground (giant anteater) or arboreal |
| Weight | 40-65 kg | 29-65 kg (giant anteater) |
| Length (with tail) | 1.5 m | 35 cm to 2.4 m |
| Fur | short, coarse, sparse | long, coarse, thick |
| Tail | thick, tapered | large, bushy |
| Ears | large | small |
| Teeth | only cheek teeth (no front teeth), lacking an enamel coating | none |
| Feet | intermediate form between claws and hooves | paws with large claws |
| Active period | nocturnal | primarily diurnal |
An aardvark… wearing legwarmers… for some reason.