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Show AARDVARK EASILY ' OUTCLASSES MAN AS FAST BIGGER The nardvark whose name conies 'rnni the Dutch and means "earth pig." is one of the strangest of living Qinmmnls extraordinary in appear-ince, appear-ince, In structure, and in habits, says the Chicago Field Museum S'ews. Aardvarks are common throughout through-out southeastern Africa, states Dr. Wilfred H. Osgood, curator of (oology at the museum. They are ibout the size of a large fat hog, iveigh up to 150 pounds, and have a pig-like snout, which accounts for ;he name given them by the early Dutch colonists in South Africa. That they are so abundant over so wide a range of territory, enn grow to such large size as individuals on 1 diet of ants exclusively, is eloquent elo-quent evidence of the prevalence of ints in Africa, and the problem they present to settlers. Being nocturnal In habits and living liv-ing In burrows, aardvarks are rarely seen, says Doctor Osgood. They :annot, therefore, be hunted like most animals, hut instead by the un-asual un-asual method of seeking their burrows bur-rows and digging them out. However, How-ever, this presents difficulties bemuse be-muse an aardvark can dig faster than six men with shovels, and thus escape farther into the earth. The members of the White-Coats expedi-:lon, expedi-:lon, instead of digging directly after the aardvarks, pushed the earth 3own behind them. This interfered ivith further digging by the anima s, ind the men then dug In front of :hem and shot them through the rround as their movement in the earth became visible. The teeth of the aardvark have a peculiar tubular structure, most closely resembling those of certain flsb.es. This would seem to indicate a very ancient ancestry for thes-animals, thes-animals, which lire proli.ilily the last remnant of an order of which nil other species are now extinct, avers Doctor Osgood. |