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The aardvark (Orycteropus afer) is indigenous to the African continent. If the question is how non-Africans named it "aardvark" instead of how it was referred by African tribes, it may be because early Dutch settlers in South Africa(1650's-1800's) thought the animal resembled a domesticated pig with a snout that dug into the ground. In Dutch the word for ground is "aarde," and pig is "varken." Later, when the British began to colonize Africa (1870's), the translation into English dropped the "e" and "en" from the spelling.

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12y ago

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