Mammals comparison

Hyena vs Aardwolf: Key Differences Explained

The short answer

The aardwolf is a hyena, a member of the family Hyaenidae, but it makes its living in an entirely different way. Where spotted, striped and brown hyenas take meat and carrion and carry heavy bone-processing cheek teeth, the aardwolf laps up termites, chiefly harvester termites, and its cheek teeth are reduced to small widely spaced pegs. It is also far smaller and slighter, with a long mane raised when alarmed. Same family, opposite diet.

The main difference

Both are hyaenids, but the aardwolf is a small insect specialist with reduced peg-like cheek teeth, while the other hyenas are meat and carrion feeders with robust bone-processing dentition.

The aardwolf is one of the clearest examples anywhere of a specialist evolving inside a family famous for the opposite habit, and it is routinely misfiled as a jackal, a fox or an aardvark rather than recognised as a hyaenid.

At a glance

Comparison of Hyena and Aardwolf across 6 dimensions, with an interpretation of each difference.
What differs	Hyena	Aardwolf	What it means
Diet	Meat and carrion; spotted hyenas also hunt actively in groups	Almost entirely termites, especially harvester termites taken from the surface	The diet gap is the reason every other difference between them exists.
Cheek teeth	Large, robust cheek teeth capable of processing bone	Reduced to small, widely spaced pegs; the canines remain	Teeth record diet more honestly than appearance does, and here they diverge completely.
Body size	Substantial; the spotted hyena is the largest hyaenid and heavily built at the shoulder	Slight, roughly the frame of a medium dog and much lighter than any other hyaenid	An insect diet does not support the mass that carrion and hunting can.Hyena covers three other living species that themselves differ considerably in size.
Tongue and mouth	No specialised insect-feeding adaptations	Broad sticky tongue and large salivary glands for lapping termites	This is convergence with unrelated insect eaters such as aardvarks and pangolins.
Social organisation	Spotted hyenas live in large clans; striped and brown hyenas are far less gregarious	Monogamous pairs holding a territory, foraging alone	Termite patches are worth defending as a pair, not sharing with a clan.
Coat and profile	Spotted, striped or shaggy depending on species, with a powerfully built front end	Buff with vertical black stripes and a long erectile mane along the back	The raised mane makes an alarmed aardwolf look much bigger than it is.

Diet: HyenaMeat and carrion; spotted hyenas also hunt actively in groups
AardwolfAlmost entirely termites, especially harvester termites taken from the surface
The diet gap is the reason every other difference between them exists.
Cheek teeth: HyenaLarge, robust cheek teeth capable of processing bone
AardwolfReduced to small, widely spaced pegs; the canines remain
Teeth record diet more honestly than appearance does, and here they diverge completely.
Body size: HyenaSubstantial; the spotted hyena is the largest hyaenid and heavily built at the shoulder
AardwolfSlight, roughly the frame of a medium dog and much lighter than any other hyaenid
An insect diet does not support the mass that carrion and hunting can.Hyena covers three other living species that themselves differ considerably in size.
Tongue and mouth: HyenaNo specialised insect-feeding adaptations
AardwolfBroad sticky tongue and large salivary glands for lapping termites
This is convergence with unrelated insect eaters such as aardvarks and pangolins.
Social organisation: HyenaSpotted hyenas live in large clans; striped and brown hyenas are far less gregarious
AardwolfMonogamous pairs holding a territory, foraging alone
Termite patches are worth defending as a pair, not sharing with a clan.
Coat and profile: HyenaSpotted, striped or shaggy depending on species, with a powerfully built front end
AardwolfBuff with vertical black stripes and a long erectile mane along the back
The raised mane makes an alarmed aardwolf look much bigger than it is.

How they are related

Hyaenidae contains only four living species: the spotted hyena, the striped hyena, the brown hyena and the aardwolf, Proteles cristatus. The aardwolf sits in its own subfamily and is the most divergent of the four, but it is unambiguously a hyaenid rather than a canid. Despite a dog-like outline, hyaenids as a group are closer to mongooses and civets than to dogs, sitting in the feliform branch of Carnivora, which surprises most readers.

A note on naming: Hyena is a group name covering three living species besides the aardwolf — spotted, striped and brown — and they differ from each other in size, sociality and diet, so statements here describe the meat-eating hyaenids collectively rather than one species.

Telling them apart

Size does most of the work. An aardwolf is a slight animal about the frame of a medium dog, buff or yellowish with narrow vertical black stripes, black-stockinged legs, a bushy tail and a long mane along the spine that can be raised until the animal appears to double in bulk. A striped hyena is bigger and heavier through the neck and shoulders, and a spotted hyena is heavier still, with a sloping back and blunt, powerful jaws.

Slight, striped, maned, on its own at night lapping insects off the ground: aardwolf. Bulky, thick-necked, at a carcass, in a group or calling loudly: one of the other three hyenas. If a source says a hyena is eating termites, it means the aardwolf. If it says a hyena is not a member of the dog family, that is true of all four.

Habitat and distribution

The aardwolf occupies open grassland and scrub in two separate populations, one in southern Africa and one in eastern and north-eastern Africa, tracking the distribution of the harvester termites it depends on. The larger hyenas are more catholic: spotted hyenas occupy savanna, woodland and semi-desert across much of sub-Saharan Africa, and striped hyenas range widely into North Africa and Asia. Ranges overlap, and aardwolves often shelter in burrows dug by other animals.

Diet and ecological role

An aardwolf can consume very large numbers of termites in a night, locating surface-foraging columns and lapping them up with a broad sticky tongue rather than digging into mounds. It relies heavily on a small number of harvester termite genera, which makes it vulnerable when those termites are controlled as pests. The other hyaenids feed on carcasses and, in the spotted hyena's case, on prey they hunt themselves, with digestive and dental equipment to match.

Behaviour

Aardwolves are nocturnal, solitary foragers that pair monogamously and defend a territory containing enough termite ground for the year, marking it heavily. They den in burrows, often ones excavated by aardvarks or springhares. Spotted hyenas by contrast live in large, structured clans with complex social relationships and a wide vocal repertoire; striped and brown hyenas are more solitary. The aardwolf's response to threat is to raise its mane and release a strong secretion from its anal glands.

Senses and adaptations

The aardwolf's specialisations sit almost entirely in its mouth: a broad sticky tongue, enlarged salivary glands and a tolerance for the defensive chemistry of harvester termites that many other predators avoid. It also has acute hearing used to locate the faint noise of foraging termite columns. The larger hyaenids run in the other direction, with powerful jaw musculature and a digestive system able to handle bone and material other carnivores cannot use.

More on this topic: Animal senses and adaptations.

Lifespan and life stages

Published lifespans differ by species and by whether animals are wild or in zoos. Wild aardwolves are generally cited at under a decade, with longer records under managed care. Spotted hyenas in long-term study populations can live substantially longer than that, and captive individuals longer again. Treat every figure as an average from a particular population, since predation, disease and human-caused mortality dominate wild outcomes and vary enormously between sites.

People and these animals

Hyenas of all four species carry a poor cultural reputation that the biology does not support, and the larger species are killed in retaliation for real or suspected livestock losses. The aardwolf is sometimes killed on the mistaken assumption that it takes lambs, which its dentition makes implausible, and it is also affected where harvester termites are treated with insecticide. Hyaenids should be observed at a distance and, where wild carnivores and people overlap, local wildlife authorities are the right contact.

Conservation context

The four hyaenids are assessed separately and their situations are not comparable. Some are widespread and others are declining, with habitat loss, persecution and, for the aardwolf, insecticide use against its termite prey all featuring. Because listings are revised as new survey data arrives, look up the current entry for the specific species on the IUCN Red List rather than assuming a family-wide picture from a single well-known species.

Each hyaenid species is assessed separately and listings change as survey data is updated; check the current IUCN Red List entry for the species in question.

What they have in common

Both are members of Hyaenidae and therefore feliform carnivorans, not members of the dog family.
Both have a sloping back profile created by front legs longer than the hind legs.
Both are primarily nocturnal and both rely heavily on scent marking to hold territory.
Both carry manes that can be raised, making the animal look larger when it is disturbed.

Key differences

The aardwolf eats termites; the other hyaenids eat meat and carrion.
The aardwolf's cheek teeth are reduced to pegs, while other hyenas have robust bone-processing teeth.
The aardwolf is far smaller and lighter than any other living hyaenid.
Aardwolves live as monogamous pairs, while spotted hyenas live in large clans.
The aardwolf has a broad sticky tongue and enlarged salivary glands that other hyaenids lack.

Where people go wrong

Filing the aardwolf as a canid or a jackal because of its dog-like silhouette.
Confusing the aardwolf with the aardvark, an unrelated animal in a different order.
Assuming all hyenas are bone-processing scavengers, which excludes one of the four species.
Treating hyena as a single animal when four living species differ in size, diet and society.

Frequently asked questions

Is the aardwolf really a hyena?

Yes. It is one of the four living members of Hyaenidae, alongside the spotted, striped and brown hyenas, and it sits in its own subfamily as the most divergent of the group. Its dog-like outline misleads people, but hyaenids are feliforms — closer to mongooses and civets than to dogs — and the aardwolf's skull, ear structure and overall anatomy place it firmly with the hyenas rather than with any canid.

Why does an aardwolf eat termites instead of meat?

It specialised. Harvester termites are abundant, predictable and forage on the surface at night, and relatively few African carnivores exploit them, so the resource was open. Over evolutionary time the aardwolf's cheek teeth reduced to pegs because they were no longer used for processing flesh or bone, and its tongue and salivary glands enlarged. The canines were retained, which is why it still looks like a carnivore when it opens its mouth.

Is an aardwolf the same as an aardvark?

No, and they are not even distantly related. The aardvark is a large, nearly hairless burrowing mammal in its own order, Tubulidentata, with a long snout and powerful digging claws. The aardwolf is a small striped hyaenid. Both names come from Afrikaans and both animals eat social insects, which is why they get confused, but the resemblance is convergence on an insect diet, not shared ancestry.

Do aardwolves live in clans like spotted hyenas?

No. Aardwolves form monogamous pairs that share and mark a territory but forage alone at night, which fits a food source spread thinly across the ground rather than concentrated in carcasses. Spotted hyenas live in large structured clans with elaborate social relationships and a famously varied vocal repertoire. Striped and brown hyenas sit between the two extremes, being far less gregarious than spotted hyenas.

How can you tell an aardwolf from a striped hyena at a distance?

Bulk and posture. A striped hyena is a substantially larger animal with a thick neck and heavy shoulders, while an aardwolf is slight and fine-legged with an obviously smaller head. The aardwolf's stripes are narrow and vertical over a buff coat, its legs are dark below, and its dorsal mane runs the length of the back. Behaviour helps too, since an aardwolf is typically alone and nose-down on open ground.

Read the full profiles

Sources and methodology

How this comparison is built: FaunaHub comparisons are assembled from the sourced animal profiles behind them rather than written as standalone claims. Figures such as size, mass, and lifespan are typical ranges that vary by subspecies, population, region, sex, age, and — where relevant — whether an animal lives in the wild or under human care, so they are presented as ranges rather than fixed values. Where a common name covers a group rather than a single species, the page says so instead of implying a species-to-species match. Conservation status changes over time and should be confirmed against the current IUCN Red List. Dimensions that could not be supported from the underlying profiles are omitted rather than filled in.

What this page does not do: it does not rank the two animals, predict the outcome of a confrontation, or present either one as stronger, smarter, or better. It is not veterinary, medical, first-aid, handling, capture, hunting, or pest-control guidance. For an animal in your care, or any situation involving injury, contact a qualified veterinarian, your local wildlife authority, or emergency services.

Sources and further reading

Authoritative references used for general educational context. External links open in a new tab. These sources do not endorse FaunaHub.

UniversityAnimal Diversity Web — Crocuta crocuta (spotted hyena) — University of Michigan species account
ReferenceEncyclopaedia Britannica — Animals reference — Editor-reviewed encyclopedia overview entries
Wildlife referenceIUCN Red List of Threatened Species — Authoritative source for current conservation status
UniversityAnimal Diversity Web — Proteles cristata (aardwolf) — University of Michigan species account
ReferenceBritannica — Aardwolf — Editor-reviewed encyclopedia entry
UniversityAnimal Diversity Web — University of Michigan Museum of Zoology — Peer-edited reference accounts for animal species

Last updated: 2026-08-04