ADOPT MEERKAT MEERKATS SURICATE SURICATES CONSERVATION 1993-2015

Submitted on Saturday, August 06 @ 13:48:13 UTC by Grant

After a recent question regarding hole digging in farm structures, like dam walls by the aardvark (Orycteropus afer), which is grouped as one of THE SHY 5 (press here to read more about them) by The Meerkat Magic Project, I decided to include a reply to this question to help alleviate the digging situation, or frustration that some land owners experience due to this natural habit of this very shy mythical aardvark creature.

Because Orycteropus afer is a fossorial mammal (like all of THE SHY 5 (press here to read more about them)- the antbear spends the day in a burrow in the ground, and has a variety of different kinds of burrows, foraging holes, sleeping burrows and breeding ones, it is impossible to get them to stop digging. They eat hundreds of thousands of ants and termites each night, and make many holes while doing this, which have many advantages to all land owners (there is more on these advantages later in this article).

A suggestion for this digging up of farm structures is that a fence is erected around the area of the dam wall/ structure where the diggings keep happening, so that the animal is discouraged from digging there. BUT before doing this it is a good idea to wipe away all tracks at the entrance of any holes in the afternoon using your foot, broom, then the next day to return there and see if the antbear has made new tracks over the cleared area that has been made.

My suggestion is to wait until you have cleared the tracks and then after a day when no tracks are made over yours, to fence off the area (because then you know the antbear is not in the hole at the time), or pile rocks on the dam wall/ around the digging area/ structure with wire mesh beneath them. This should discourage the antbear from digging there again.

Unfortunately because so few people are ever fortunate enough to see this species, it is often misunderstood and even killed, due to a lack of understanding regarding the specialised diet, habits and so on.

If you have aardvark on your property, you are very lucky, as they are very fussy about where they live. I want to congratulate anybody who takes the time to ask questions to better understand this species, and for showing care for this species and looking for solutions to co-exist, and not simply trying to kill it.

As I have explained, antbear are very good at keeping termite and ant populations down which protects your vegetation, they also make excellent "storm water gutters" like the meerkats do, with their diggings that help large amounts of water to infiltrate into the ground without flooding the area and causing erosion and washing away topsoil.

I suggest you also read the following article I have written on the advantages of meerkats in an area, as these advantages are very similar to those created by the antbear at the following link, simply press it to go to the article: Press here.