The following is my translation of an article called: 'Das Erdferkel'. I'm not sure who the author was or why they disliked using paragraphs. (Their abstinence was complete in this case.) It appeared in a German popular science magazine, Kosmos Handweiser für Naturfreunde 1923, Heft 3, Seiten 79-81. I'm not aware of any previous translation.
Trevor Dykes.

The aardvark
The small group of aardvarks -our picture shows a young African animal- has provided many headaches for systematicists because of its many peculiarities. Usually it was placed within the order of the edentates ('tooth gaps') because one did not know where else it should be fitted in. More recently specialists have seen it as a representative of a distinct order, which one calls 'tube teeth' (Tubulidentata), and this is due to the pillar-like enamelled and rootless teeth. In some respects they display similarities with ungulates, as would be apparent from a look at the unusually powerful digging claws on the strongly muscled feet. Aardvarks are not especially beautiful animals, and their lifestyle is not dissimilar to that of the South American ant-eaters and, therefore, East African forms have often been mistakenly referred to them; their trunk-like snout, the small eyes, the large donkey ears, the high gait, the long tail and the usually buckled back give more of an impression of strangeness rather than an attractive one. Reminiscent of pigs are the relative lack of body hair and the round shield-like end of the nose, and also the tender, fat white meat, which is eagerly eaten; a consequence being that, where they live, they are frequently hunted despite not being easy prey, as the animal is shy and has a largely nocturnal lifestyle. As long as the sun remains in the sky it rests in a burrow of its own excavation, and even if that should be found then it is still not easy to catch as, should an enemy approach, it digs its way quickly ever deeper into the earth; furthermore, the refuge usually has many angles and turns. Only in cases where the burrow runs straight for a short stretch can a very careful approach, followed by a quick jab with a lance into the hole, bring the desired objective. Even if one has caught hold of the back legs, then its powerful musculature still enables determined resistance. It can require many strong men to haul it out, and this is partly because the scratching movements of its rear legs can cause masses of earth and dust to be hurled into the faces of its pursuers, so that they must mostly give up due to being blinded. The aardvark also uses well directed beats of its strongly muscled tail for defence, and that makes for further difficulties. The habitat of this remarkable animal, which weighs about a hundred pounds, is mainly in steppe-like areas, especially in those with plenty of termite nests, as those colony-building insects are the main, and sometimes almost the only source of food. After the fall of dusk it will emerge from its burrow, look and listen attentively in all directions and then set off at a kangaroo-like gallop to search for food. Should it have found a termite colony, then it quickly begins with the excavation and demonstrates that it is a digging-artiste of the very first order. Even the hardest of termite nests, for which a person would require axes and hooks, can be broken into until a main corridor or the brooding chamber has been revealed. Now the aardvark will stretch out its long, narrow and quick tongue, which is always kept moist and sticky due to special glands, into the exposed areas so as to trap a large number of termites, only to draw the tongue back and then, with gusto, the prey will be crushed between the remarkable columnar teeth. The challenge posed to the animal by nature is to ensure that termites do not reproduce too prodigiously for, if they should, then their numbers would hugely increase, and it uses all means at its disposal to excellently fulfil this objective. While generally non-social, if it feels secure, well fed and undisturbed, the aardvark will, on occasions, become involved in games with others of its own kind; the apparently so plump animals will hop around among themselves in the still of the night on the moonlit steppes with their amusing bounds. Should they be surprised, then they will not attempt to disappear into the distance, rather they will immediately dig themselves into the ground wherever they happen to be, and so astonishingly quickly, that they usually disappear into the realm of the earth within a mighty cloud of dust before a person is able to reach the spot. They will often dig themselves a new burrow every night, and that means they lead something of a gipsy-like life; they sweep their way far and wide across the steppe by night, and then dig themselves down at morning wherever they happen to find themselves, as this gives them less trouble than returning to their sleeping place of the previous day. Their prodigious digging activities mean that the aardvarks, in the areas which they often frequent, can pose a danger for riders, as a horse can tread accidentally into such a hole and that can cause the rider to fall off. Often aardvarks are brought into European zoos where, despite their general sleepiness in the daytime, visitors are held enthralled; they are difficult to keep and last at most but two years, as one knows neither how much food they require under natural conditions, nor how much liberty they should be permitted for their digging.

An index of more of my translations of old Kosmos articles can be found at:

Kosmos Translations Archive

A number of Mesozoic (and post-Mesozoic) location summaries can be found at Localities.