Art History Animalia

Here is a one-of-a-kind piece from Fabergé for #NationalAardvarkWeek:

FABERGÉ Aardvark, c. 1910 carved banded agate with rose diamond eyes; 4.3 x 6.8 x 2.8 cm Provenance: Bought by King George V on 25 November 1914 from Fabergé's London branch, £18 Royal Collection Trust

Resharing for #NationalAardvarkWeek 2024!

More for #NationalAardvarkWeek:

#DYK aardvarks are endemic to sub-Saharan Africa? They've been found in rock art from a number of sites across their native range.

Aardvark petroglyph on display at the National Museum of Cultural History in Pretoria, South Africa.

#AardvarksAareAawesome

Resharing for #NationalAardvarkWeek 2024!

For #NationalAardvarkWeek:

Aardvarks by Robert Jacob Gordon (Dutch, 1743-1795), from The Gordon African Collection, 4 albums of natural history illustrations made during 4 expeditions to the Dutch Cape Colony (South Africa) from 1777-86. Now in the Rijksmuseum collection.

Reblogging for #NationalAardvarkWeek 2024!

#NationalAardvarkWeek insult:

"THE AARD-VARK," plate from Brehm's Life of Animals: Vol. 1, Mammalia, 1895. BHL.

"Here is one of the most clumsy, odd looking animals in the world."

Wow, rude! #AardvarksAareAawesome and actually quite swift and agile and can defend themselves well...

The Aardvark is many things, but clumsy isn't one of them - they can be FAST when they need to be (have been clocked at speeds of over 25mph/40kph) and have impressive evasive maneuving capabilities. Check out this one outrun a hyena before giving it the slip with an epic flip!

Watch: Aardvark pulls off surprisingly speedy escape from hyena on the hunt

Here's the direct link to the video embedded in the story above; the chase starts about 1:20 in:

Aardvarks can not only run fast to escape, but can dig fast too - up to about .6 m/2 ft per 15 seconds! That escape hole in the video above was already there though - they have auxillary burrows throughout their home range in addition to their main home. Good planning!

Reblogging for #NationalAardvarkWeek 2024!

#NationalAardvarkWeek: #DYK The Engish common name "Aardvark" derives from Afrikaans aarde ‘earth’ + vark ‘pig’, but this animal has other colloquial names too, including:

"Cape Anteater"

"The Cape Anteater," Plate 48 in The animal kingdom : arranged in conformity with its organization: The class Mammalia v.3, London, 1827. Biodiversity Heritage Library.

"Ant Bear"

Queen Elizabeth 1966-1971 commonwealth pictorial definitive postage stamp issue for Kenya, 15c, 1966 [catalog reference SG-22]

"African Bush Pig"

African Bush Pig collector card from the Animals series (D9), issued by the Weber Baking Company to promote Onist Milk and Pullman Bread early 20th century commercial color lithograph 2 1/2 × 3 1/4 in. (6.4 × 8.3 cm) Metropolitan Museum of Art

Reblogging for #NationalAardvarkWeek 2024!

It's #NationalAardvarkWeek! Besides being one of my favorite mammals, it's also the most evolutionarily distinct one (more on that below). Stay tuned for more aardvark art and info all week long! 😎 #AardvarksAareAawesome

"Erdferkel," Plate 14 in Brehms thierleben, allgemeine kunde des thierreichs, 1876-9. Biodiversity Heritage Library.

#DYK the Aardvark (Orycteropus afer) is the only living representative of an entire ORDER of mammals, Tubulidentata? This helped it score as the #1 most evolutionarily distinctive (ED) mammal on ZSL's EDGE of Existence list:

[FYI the only other mammal order with a single living member is Microbiotheria, represented by the Monito del Monte (Dromiciops gliroides) - however they have more living relatives one step out in superorder Australidelphia than the Aardvark does in the Afrotheria.]

Reblogging for #NationalAardvarkWeek 2024!