July 19, 2017 by Bob Yirka report
(Phys.org)—A team of researchers with the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa has found evidence that suggests the aardvark may face a large decrease in population as the planet heats up due to global warming. In their paper published in the journal Biology Letters, the group describes how they fastened monitors to a group of aardvarks who by happenstance were forced to endure a severe drought—and how the animals fared.
Aardvarks are interesting mammals, to say the least; they have floppy ears, a tubular snout and a body reminiscent of an armadillo. They survive by hiding from sub-Saharan African heat inside burrows they dig and eating ants and termites at night. As the researchers note, aardvarks are considered to be a keystone species because others animals use the burrows they build as nests, sleeping quarters or simply as a place to escape from predators and he intense desert heat. But their very existence might be in jeopardy, the researchers with this new effort have found, as the planet heats up and conditions in parts of Africa become more inhospitable.
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