Everyone knows that "A" is for "Aardvark" (unless you'd prefer the scientific name Orycteropus afer, in which case "O" is for "Orycteropus"), but that's all most people seem to know about this animal. It almost looks like two people were having a fight over a pig, pulling at both ends in some sort of "Just-so" story that ended up with the creation of the first Aardvark, but the animals pictured above have nothing to do with pigs at all. Indeed, Aardvarks belong to their own order, Tubulidentata, within the Afrotheria, seemingly being a very old lineage that has not changed very much through time.
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Sometimes called an "antbear" in its native Africa, its name actually means "Earth Pig" in Dutch. However, the aardvark is not related to bears, pigs, or the naked mouse featured previously, despite some outward resemblance. Aardvark's are classified in their own order, Tubulidentata, which…
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I always thought that A was for Aunt Annie's Alligator. Of course, I majored in history, so my vertebrate zoology is a little shakey.
Then again, thanks to my parents, I always thought that C was "Camel on the Ceiling, LSD"
There's that term again--"Afrotheria." I can't get a straight answer on whether it's a monophyletic term or not, and if it is, what groups it includes. Aardvarks, let it be known, are among the most awesome mammals on the planet right now, possibly THE most awesome after the pangolin.
AFAIK, Afrotheria has been used to encompass the following orders: Afrosoricida (golden moles, tenrecs and elephant shrews), Macroscelidea (elephant shrews), Tubulidentata (aardvarks), Proboscidea, Sirenia, Hyracoidea, and the extinct Embrithopoda and Desmostylia.
If the Wikipedia page on Afrotheria is accurate, it appears that the closest living relatives of aardvarks are actually the elephant shrews. Hmm.