this post was submitted on 25 Jan 2025
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Science Memes

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Aardwoof (mander.xyz)
submitted 5 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 22 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Both names come from Afrikaans, but the animals are not in any way related. The aardwolf is related to the hyena. It's the hyenas friendly cousin. It mostly eats termites and it's not dangerous. The aardvark lmhas a pig like nose and it burrows like a pig, so "vark" means pig in Afrikaans. The aardvark has no other relation to a pig besides the name.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago

The aardvark also mainly eats termites. Both species are nocturnal and rest in dens and burrows during the day. So similar behaviours and ecological niches so very fair to give them similar names.

The hyena family is also closer related to felines than canids. Fun fact there.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

ah, so "vark" is much like "dog" in english when it is used in animal names like "prairie dog"!

thanks for explaining!

I was gonna say "pig-wolf" sounds kind of goofy but it is actually pretty precise in behavioral desciption then isn't it?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (2 children)

Should be noted that "aard" means "ground/earth"

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

Thank you

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

...by contrast to airwolf...