The Aardvark (Orycteropus afer) ('Digging foot'), sometimes
called 'antbear' is a medium-sized mammal native to Africa. The
name comes from the Afrikaans/Dutch for 'earth pig', because
early settlers from Europe thought it resembled a pig. However,
the aardvark is not related to the pig, it is placed in its own
order. The Aardvark is also not related to the South American
anteater, despite sharing some characteristics and a similar
resemblance. The closest living relatives of the aardvark are
the elephant shrews (small insectivorous mammals native to
Africa), the sirenians (herbivorous mammals that inhabit
rivers), hyraxes (herbivorous mammals that live in Africa and
the Middle East), tenrecs (a family of mammals found on
Madagascar and parts of Africa) and elephants. One of the most
distinctive characteristics of the aardvark is their teeth.
Instead of having a pulp cavity in their tooth, they have a
number of thin tubes of dentine (a calcified tissue of the
body), each containing pulp held together by cemen