There’s also some very subtle slurping!
This is Tilli, an aardvark at the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma, WA. I looked up the video source, and here’s what the zoo’s Twitter post from October 2021 says:
“Tilli the aardvark has her amazing sniffer going while she inspects keeper Brynn’s homegrown, 53-pound Cinderella pumpkin! Tilli’s care team punctured holes in the giant pumpkin and filled with yogurt for a special Zoo Boo treat.”
So when she looks like she’s sniffing super hard at the pumpkin with her nose flat against it, she’s probably sticking her tongue into a hole to get to the food. Aardvarks are insectivores and have tongues very similar to (although not as extreme as) anteaters. Here’s a video of Tilli engaging with a puzzle feeder so you can see her tongue (best clip is 0:40), as well as a keeper sharing a bunch more info about her.
And because I love these buddies, here’s another aardvark tongue video of two at the Omaha Zoo learning to get treats out of a maze puzzle feeder. (The good part starts around 1:15 - it takes them a bit to figure it out).
But also, I just want to give a shout-out to the keeper who brought their home-grown giant pumpkin in for Tilli in the first video. Whatever else you might think about the zoo industry, it’s a certain fact that zookeepers adore their animals and spoil them whenever they can.
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