Orycteropus afer
E721102
Orycteropus afer is the aardvark, a nocturnal, burrowing mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa known for its elongated snout and specialized tongue used to feed on ants and termites.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Orycteropus afer canonical | 4 |
| Orycteropus | 2 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T8255552 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Orycteropus afer Context triple: [Afrotheria, hasNotableMember, Orycteropus afer]
-
A.
Atlantoxerus
Atlantoxerus is a genus of ground-dwelling squirrels native to North Africa, best known for the Barbary ground squirrel.
-
B.
Hyemoschus
Hyemoschus is a genus of small, primitive ruminant mammals commonly known as African chevrotains or mouse-deer, found in the forests of central and western Africa.
-
C.
Hylochoerus meinertzhageni
Hylochoerus meinertzhageni, commonly known as the giant forest hog, is the largest wild pig species, native to forests and woodlands of central Africa.
-
D.
Potamochoerus porcus
Potamochoerus porcus, commonly known as the red river hog, is a colorful, medium-sized wild pig native to the forests and swamps of West and Central Africa.
-
E.
Proteles cristata
Proteles cristata, commonly known as the aardwolf, is a small, insectivorous mammal native to eastern and southern Africa and the most specialized termite-feeding member of the hyena family.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Orycteropus afer Target entity description: Orycteropus afer is the aardvark, a nocturnal, burrowing mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa known for its elongated snout and specialized tongue used to feed on ants and termites.
-
A.
Atlantoxerus
Atlantoxerus is a genus of ground-dwelling squirrels native to North Africa, best known for the Barbary ground squirrel.
-
B.
Hyemoschus
Hyemoschus is a genus of small, primitive ruminant mammals commonly known as African chevrotains or mouse-deer, found in the forests of central and western Africa.
-
C.
Hylochoerus meinertzhageni
Hylochoerus meinertzhageni, commonly known as the giant forest hog, is the largest wild pig species, native to forests and woodlands of central Africa.
-
D.
Potamochoerus porcus
Potamochoerus porcus, commonly known as the red river hog, is a colorful, medium-sized wild pig native to the forests and swamps of West and Central Africa.
-
E.
Proteles cristata
Proteles cristata, commonly known as the aardwolf, is a small, insectivorous mammal native to eastern and southern Africa and the most specialized termite-feeding member of the hyena family.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (50)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
aardvark
ⓘ
mammal ⓘ species ⓘ |
| activityPattern | nocturnal ⓘ |
| averageLitterSize | 1 offspring ⓘ |
| binomialName | Orycteropus afer ⓘ |
| burrowUseByOtherSpecies | provides shelter for other animals ⓘ |
| class | Mammalia ⓘ |
| commonName | aardvark ⓘ |
| conservationStatus | Least Concern ⓘ |
| conservationStatusSystem |
IUCN Red List
ⓘ
linked to:
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
|
| describedBy | Peter Simon Pallas ⓘ |
| describedInYear | 1766 ⓘ |
| diet |
ants
ⓘ
termites ⓘ |
| domain |
Eukaryota
ⓘ
linked to:
Eukarya
|
| family | Orycteropodidae ⓘ |
| feedingAdaptation | specialized tongue for capturing ants and termites ⓘ |
| foragingTime | night ⓘ |
| genus |
Orycteropus
ⓘ
linked to:
Orycteropus afer
|
| geographicDistribution |
central Africa
ⓘ
eastern Africa ⓘ southern Africa ⓘ |
| gestationPeriod | about 7 months ⓘ |
| habitat |
bushland
ⓘ
grassland ⓘ savanna ⓘ woodland ⓘ |
| hasBodyPart |
elongated snout
ⓘ
long sticky tongue ⓘ powerful claws ⓘ |
| hasTeethType | tubular teeth without enamel ⓘ |
| isOnlyExtantSpeciesOf | order Tubulidentata ⓘ |
| kingdom | Animalia ⓘ |
| lifespanInCaptivity | over 20 years ⓘ |
| lifestyle |
burrowing
ⓘ
fossorial ⓘ |
| locomotion | quadrupedal ⓘ |
| nativeTo |
sub-Saharan Africa
ⓘ
linked to:
Sub-Saharan Africa
|
| order | Tubulidentata ⓘ |
| phylum | Chordata ⓘ |
| playsEcologicalRole | ecosystem engineer through burrowing ⓘ |
| reproduction | viviparous ⓘ |
| sensoryAdaptation | well-developed sense of smell ⓘ |
| shelter | underground burrows ⓘ |
| socialBehavior | solitary ⓘ |
| taxonRank | species ⓘ |
| threats |
habitat loss
ⓘ
hunting in some regions ⓘ |
| trophicGuild | myrmecophagous mammal ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Orycteropus afer Description of subject: Orycteropus afer is the aardvark, a nocturnal, burrowing mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa known for its elongated snout and specialized tongue used to feed on ants and termites.
Referenced by (6)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: Orycteropus afer
linked to: Orycteropus afer