Aardwolf (Proteles cristata)

MammalInsectivoreAfrica

Overview

The aardwolf (Proteles cristata) is a small, slender, striped mammal of Africa that looks like a delicate, scaled-down striped hyena — and, in fact, it belongs to the hyena family. But unlike its larger, bone-crushing relatives, the aardwolf is a gentle specialist with one of the most unusual diets among carnivores: it eats almost nothing but termites. Its name is Afrikaans for “earth-wolf,” reflecting its burrowing habits.

With a long, sticky tongue, an aardwolf can lap up many tens of thousands of termites in a single night, focusing on particular kinds of termites that other animals avoid. It has small, simple, peg-like cheek teeth — useless for chewing meat, but all it needs for a life of insect-lapping.

Note: details here cover the aardwolf as a species; treat general statements as approximate and verify against authoritative sources.

Habitat & Range

Aardwolves live in the dry, open country of Africa — savanna, scrubland, and grassland — in two separate populations, one in eastern and northeastern Africa and one in southern Africa. They favour areas with plenty of the termites they eat, and they shelter by day in burrows (often ones dug by other animals, such as aardvarks or porcupines), which they may enlarge for their own use.

Diet

The aardwolf is a highly specialised insectivore, feeding overwhelmingly on termites — especially certain surface-foraging, nasute (snouted) termites that release chemical defences many predators dislike. It does not dig into termite mounds like an aardvark; instead it licks termites from the ground surface with its long, broad, sticky tongue, consuming enormous numbers in a night. It gets nearly all its water from this insect diet.

Behavior

Aardwolves are nocturnal and largely solitary foragers, though a male and female form a mated pair that shares and defends a territory, which they mark with scent. They follow the movements of their termite prey across the landscape, and because some termites are seasonally scarce, aardwolves may build up fat reserves and become less active in lean, cold periods. They are shy and non-aggressive: rather than fight, a threatened aardwolf raises the long mane of hair along its back to look bigger, and may release a smelly secretion from its scent glands. Despite belonging to the hyena family, they pose no threat to livestock and do not scavenge carcasses the way true hyenas do.

Human Interaction & Conservation

Aardwolves are harmless and even beneficial — by eating vast numbers of termites they can help control termite populations on rangeland — yet they are sometimes wrongly persecuted by people who mistake them for livestock-killers or confuse them with other predators. They are also affected by habitat loss, road deaths, and the use of pesticides that reduce their termite prey. Overall the species remains fairly widespread and is not currently considered globally threatened. Consult the IUCN Red List for current status.

More photos of the aardwolf