Photo: Theo Kruse Burgers | Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
For the first time in nearly four decades, an aardvark cub has been born at the San Diego Zoo. The cub, who will remain out of view of visitors for about two months as she bonds with her mother, Zola, has tripled her birth weight in five weeks. Aardvarks, which are native to sub-Saharan Africa, have strong front legs and long claws adapted to digging burrows where they spend their daylight hours until emerging in evenings. They use their long, sticky tongues to slurp up ants and termites. "She is very active, and was using her sharp claws to dig like an adult aardvark, just hours after her birth," said lead wildlife care specialist Cari Inserra. "We can’t wait until we are able to introduce the cub to our Zoo guests, helping them learn more about this remarkable species."
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