#NationalAardvarkWeek: In addition to Korèdugaso heads, the Bamana also incorporate #aardvarks into the composite animal designs of the ChiWara. A commonly seen combo is #antelope horns + #pangolin back + #aardvark head & lower body.

Paired male & female with baby ChiWara (Ci-wara Kun), Bamana, Mali (likely Ségou region), late 19th-early 20th c., wood & metal, Brooklyn Museum:
https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/4843
https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/4844

(illustration from African Masks from the Barbier-Mueller Collection)

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 Cape Colony (South Africa) from 1777-86. Now in the Rijksmuseum collection.

https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/RP-T-1914-17-215
https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/RP-T-1914-17-234
https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/RP-T-1914-17-235
https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/RP-T-1914-17-236

#AardvarksAareAawesome

#NationalAardvarkWeek: examples of late 19th-early 20th c. "Korèdugaso" from the Bamana of Mali. You may see these labeled as "hobby horses" because they're mounted on sticks & ridden by Korè jesters, but they're #aardvark heads!
1. Michael C. Carlos Museum https://collections.carlos.emory.edu/objects/20044/hobby-horse-koredugaso
2. Cleveland Museum of Art https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1935.307#
3. Art Institute of Chicago https://www.artic.edu/artworks/20577/horse-head-koredugaso

#NationalAardvarkWeek: #DYK The Engish common name "Aardvark" derives from Afrikaans aarde ‘earth’ + vark ‘pig’, but this animal has other colloquial names too, including:
1. Cape Anteater (Plate 48 in The Class Mammalia v.3, 1827) https://flic.kr/p/bQebyB
2. Ant Bear (Kenya 15c postage stamp, 1966) https://www.hipstamp.com/listing/kenya-1966-scott-22-used-15c-aardark-ant-bear/48558314
3. African Bush Pig (collector card from the Animals series issued by the Weber Baking Company, early 20th century) https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/680293

For #NationalAardvarkWeek and @art_history_animalia here is my little #Aardvark, in fact, the last year a circulating aardvark coin was produced - 1983, 1 Ngwee from #Zambia

#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. Here is a #petroglyph on display at the National Museum of Cultural History in Pretoria, #SouthAfrica: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:National_Cultural_History_Museum-040.jpg

For #NationalAardvarkWeek and @art_history_animalia here is a #numismatic #Aardvark featured on the 1968 - 1983 1 Ngwee coin from #Zambia. I don't have one handy, but here is an image from the Numista website https://en.numista.com/catalogue/index.php?r=Aardvark%20&ct=coin

#NationalAardvarkWeek fun fact: #DYK that #aardvarks can stand up for a bit? Their thick kangaroo-like tail helps with balance!
Plate: Taf. 1 in Anatomische Untersuchungen über die Edentaten by Wilhelm Ludwig von Rapp, 1852 via BHL: https://flic.kr/p/2kyzFsV

#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! :)
#NationalAardvarkWeek #AardvarksAareAawesome

Here's the direct link to the video embedded in the story above; the chase starts about 1:20 in:
https://youtu.be/ST-b-ygAqxA
#NationalAardvarkWeek #AardvarksAareAawesome

#NationalAardvarkWeek insult from Brehm's Life of Animals: Vol. 1, Mammalia, 1895: "Here is one of the most clumsy, odd looking animals in the world." Wow, rude! #AardvarksAareAawesome and actually quite swift & agile and can defend themselves well - see thread below!
Digitized via BHL: https://flic.kr/p/atGEHQ

Here is a one-of-a-kind piece from #Fabergé for #NationalAardvarkWeek: this lovely little agate #aardvark with rose diamond eyes c. 1910 was bought by King George V in 1914 from Fabergé's London branch for £18. It's now in the Royal Collection Trust:https://rct.uk/collection/40471/aardvark
#AardvarksAareAawesome

It's #NationalAardvarkWeek! Besides being one of my favorite #mammals, it's also the most evolutionarily distinct one (more on that next). Stay tuned for more #aardvark art and info!😎#AardvarksAareAawesome
this image: "Erdferkel," Plate 14 in _Brehms thierleben, allgemeine kunde des thierreichs_, 1876-9.
BHL: https://flic.kr/p/dHvqix