A recent study published in Quaternary Research describes the discovery and identification of possible aardvark tracks and burrow sites in Pleistocene aeolianites on the South African Cape coast.
Aardvarks (Orycteropus afer), also known as antbears or erdvarks, are the only extant species in Tubulidentata. They are widely distributed across southern Africa; however, they are an uncommon sight due to their nocturnal and solitary nature.
While aardvarks leave many easily identifiable traces in their environments, the trace fossil record, including tracks, tail impressions, feeding traces, burrows, and even coprolites (fossil feces), is surprisingly scarce. This is in stark contrast to the fossil body record, in which aardvarks are more commonly identified.
To date, only a single, unconfirmed, and undated aardvark burrow may have been identified previously from Simanya on the south bank of the Kavango River in northern Namibia.
Since 2008, the Cape South Coast Ichnology Project has been documenting vertebrate-made ichnosites (sites with trace fossils) along South Africa’s Cape coasts. During these explorations, five sites were uncovered with evidence of aardvark burrows and one site with aardvark tracks.
These sites included Site 1 near Die Kelders, Site 2 (known as “Burrow Bay”), Site 3 in Drietfontein, Site 4 in the Goukamma Nature Reserve, and Site 5 in the Woody Cape section of the Addo Elephant National Park. The fossil track site was discovered around 3 km east of Site 2 and 8 km west of Site 3.
The research team considered other burrowing animals native to the region before concluding that aardvarks were the most likely creators of these fossil traces. These included porcupines, bat-eared foxes, Cape foxes, and springhares.
Porcupines were ruled out despite being prolific diggers. This is because porcupines tend to dig V-shaped burrows with smooth upper walls resulting from their quills polishing (abrasion) the surface. However, the fossil burrows discovered at the sites were all circular in shape and showed no signs of quill abrasion.
Additionally, porcupines, honey badgers, and hyenas tend to reuse old aardvark burrows rather than dig their own.
For bat-eared foxes, cape foxes, and springhares, the burrows were found to be too large, some of which had a diameter of up to 50 cm.
Additionally, claw marks found in some of the burrows could be identified as aardvarks, says Dr. Charles W. Helm, the lead researcher of the study, “Two of the burrows contained aardvark claw scratch marks, finding and identifying those provided a really meaningful moment.”
Further analysis of the shape and dimensions allowed the researchers to assign the burrows to aardvarks tentatively. Similarly, the trace marks were found to be characteristic of aardvark footprints, showing a tridactyl (three-toed) mark corresponding to the size and shape of modern aardvark footprints.
Although none of the sites could be directly dated, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dates from nearby aeolianites provided approximate ages for each site. With the oldest (Site 2) being dated to around 134± 9 ka and the youngest (Site 1) dated to around 76 ± 5 ka.
At present, these fossils do not warrant the proposal of a new ichnotaxa. However, they add to the otherwise sparse paleoichnological evidence of aardvarks and the global ichnological large vertebrate burrow record.
“We are very lucky in having wonderfully preserved aeolianites and paleosols here on the Cape coast of South Africa. Aeolianites do occur further north along the African coast as well, and others may well find more aardvark burrows there,” says Helm.
“Such burrows have come and gone in the fossil record for thousands of years and not been recognized. Now we are privileged to recognize and describe them. But we need to accept that the known sites will be eroded (one of them has already been covered by a landslide), and new ones will be exposed. What is true is that climate change and resulting storm surges are accelerating the rates of erosion and cliff collapse, so we need to be vigilant and revisit areas after such storm events.”
More information: Charles W. Helm et al, Pleistocene aardvark (Orycteropus afer) burrow traces on South Africa’s Cape coast, Quaternary Research (2025). DOI: 10.1017/qua.2024.48
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