Aardvarks are one of the quietest animals you'll keep, and one of the most useful. They're cheap, they don't need a huge habitat, and in the wildlife reserve they count as a soil rooter and small prey. That makes them a big help for finishing a grassland ecosystem. The catch is that they're nocturnal, so if they live alone guests will often walk past an "empty" habitat.
Where aardvarks fit in your zoo
I treat aardvarks as a supporting species rather than a headline act. Two things make them worth adopting early:
- They help your wildlife reserve. A grassland ecosystem wants soil rooters and grazers. Aardvarks and meerkats fill the soil rooter slot, and plains zebras cover the grazer slot.
- They release easily. Aardvarks go out as a maternal family group, and releasing them early lets your vets keep researching the species. Research on most land animals stays blocked until you've released some into the wild.
If you're working towards a higher accreditation tier in Franchise, an aardvark release is one of the cheapest ways to push a reserve's species diversity up.
Building the habitat
You don't need anything fancy:
- Paint lots of soil. Aardvarks want a soil-heavy floor. Use a couple of soil types blended together so it doesn't look like one flat brown carpet.
- Add burrows. A burrow gives them shelter and somewhere to sleep through the day. You'll often find a newborn hiding in there.
- Keep the barrier simple. Aardvarks aren't jumpers or climbers, so a low fence is fine for them. Just remember that any animal you mix in later might need a taller one.
- Give them water. A small drinking point inside the habitat, and make sure it sits inside a staffed work zone so keepers can reach it.
Mixing aardvarks with other animals
Because they sleep during the day, aardvarks are perfect for a mixed habitat with a day-active species. Warthogs are my favourite partner: same part of Africa, similar soil-heavy ground, and the warthogs keep the habitat busy while the aardvarks are asleep in their burrow. Check the cohabitation info in the Zoopedia before you mix anything, and use the pin species button in the habitat panel so you can see both sets of needs at once.
You can also park aardvarks next to meerkats or antelope with only a fence between them. They'll happily "talk" through the wire and it makes the area feel alive.
Group size and breeding
An aardvark pair (one male, one female) is all you need. The thing to watch for is the young. Aardvarks take about two years to mature, and once a youngster grows up, the habitat flips to a "social group too big" warning. When that happens:
- Move the youngest animal to the trade centre (storage), then either quick trade it or add it to a release group.
- Don't leave grown-up young with their parents. That's how you end up with inbreeding warnings.
Research and thriving
After your first aardvark release, go back to the research centre. New research levels open up and give you the aardvark's thriving requirements, the extra things it wants beyond 100% welfare. Put a vet on it as soon as you can. It's an easy species to get thriving, and thriving animals help your zoo's star rating.
Common problems
- "Nobody ever sees them." Pair them with a day-active species or put a viewing window near the burrow.
- Group too big. Check the habitat every time a baby turns two.
- Research blocked. Release a family group first, then come back to research.