Moscow Zoo to get its first African aardvark

In September, visitors of the Moscow Zoo will see an African aardvark for the first time. An aardvark is a mammal that has the body of an anteater, a pig snout, rabbit ears, a thick tail like a kangaroo, and distinctive teeth that look like tubes. The animal’s name comes from Afrikaans and means “ground pig.”

“Every new animal is a great joy for us. We reached an agreement a while ago with the Yekaterinburg Zoo that their baby aardvark would move to Moscow, but we had to wait for it to grow up a little,” said Svetlana Akulova, general director of the Moscow Zoo.

She added that it would be possible to see the new arrival in the beginning of September, as the animal will be in quarantine for the rest of July and August.

Now the baby aardvark – a calm and amicable male – is in the care of Yekaterinburg zoologists. He has recently switched from his mother’s milk to food for adult animals. His diet includes rice gruel, porridge, dry feed, bananas and worms.

At the same time, Moscow zoologists have begun to prepare a cage for the new resident. The aardvark is a nocturnal animal, so he is going to live in the Nocturnal World pavilion. Darkness is created there artificially during the day, and special red lights, imperceptible to the animal, will allow visitors to see the creature clearly.

Nowadays aardvarks can only be found in some regions of Central and Southern Africa. An adult male weighs about 50-70 kilos, and is approximately a metre and a half long. Aardvarks prefer living in thickets and bushes. Their favourite treats are termites and ants. An aardvark can ransack an anthill in several minutes.