More August, more rain because you know that’s what the British Summer Time is all about. Last week featured the rubbery but ultimately very adorable Rubber Boa. Unfortunately it’s about to be eclipsed in cuteness by this week’s ‘aard’ issue, hope you guys enjoy this issue.

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Issue #82 – Aardwolf

Kingdom – Animalia

Phylum – Chordata

Class – Mammalia

Order – Carnivoria

Family – Hyaenidae

Genus – Proteles

Species – cristata

Related Species – The Aardwolf is one of the four extant species of Hyena, the others being the Spotted Hyena (Crocuta crocuta), Striped Hyena (Hyaena hyaena) and Brown Hyena (Hyaena brunella) (1)

Range

It’s an ‘Aard’ life after all

The Aardwolf is the smallest member of the hyena family, with a body length of 80cm and a weight of 15kg, and is also the most dog like. The actual animal has cream coloured fur with black stripes as well as a mane like structure running down its back all the way to the dog like tail. Like its larger relatives the Aardwolf has large bone crushing canines, although they are used only in territorial disputes and defence, and never when hunting.

The reason for this is that the Aardwolf has evolved to feed exclusively on insects, particularly termites, which it extracts from their nests with a long sticky tongue and can eat over 200,000 termites in a single night (2). In addition to raiding insect nests, the Aardwolf also feeds on insects burrowing in carrion, something that farmers have misread as the Aardwolf feeding on dead livestock. In addition to human farmers, Aardwolves have many predators including lions (Panthera leo), larger hyenas and even large birds of prey. To reduce predation the Aardwolf lives a nocturnal life, and will take refuge in its burrow. If caught in the open with nowhere to hide, the Aardwolf puffs itself up in an attempt to look bigger than it actually is to deter predators.

Male Aardwolves maintain small territories, whose barriers he marks with glands on the anus, although he will sneak onto a rival’s territory to mate with the dominant female if he determines that the dominant male is weaker than he (3). Mating occurs in July, and the female Aardwolf will give birth to up to five cubs in a maternity burrow. From their both parents protect the burrow and the cubs until the next breeding season, upon which time the cubs are chased from the male’s territory to find their own.

Five Fun Aardwolf Facts

The word Aardwolf translates to ‘Earth Wolf’ from Afrikaans, on account of the animal digging and living underground

Aardwolves also go by the name Maanhaar Jackal, which translates to ‘Manned Jackal’ also from Afrikaans

The Aardwolf is the only hyena able to rotate its ears

Aardwolves are the only animal unaffected by the chemical defence of the termite Trinervitermes trinervoides (4)

Aardwolves, like the other three species of hyena are often treated as evil lazy animals throughout their range and associated with witchcraft. Such accusations are far from the truth, hyenas particularly the Spotted Hyena, are accomplished predators, and kill around 90% of the meat they feed on.

References

1. www.arkive.org

2. Mills, Gus; Harvey, Martin (2001). African Predators. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.

3. Rieger, Ingo (1990). "Hyenas". In Parker, Sybil P. Grzimek's Encyclopedia of Mammals 3. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Publishing Company

4. K. E. Holekamp (2007). “Aardwolf: Diet and Foraging”. Hyaena Specialist Group.

Picture References

1. http://www.hyaenidae.org/uploads/images/aardwolf%20pix/slidenumber0025b1.jpg

2. http://www.theanimalfiles.com/images/aardwolf_range.jpg

3. http://sciencewows.ie/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Aardwolf3.jpg

4. http://www.factzoo.com/sites/all/img/mammals/hyena/young-aardwolves.jpg

And with that last fact in mind, hopefully the hyena family, including the Aardwolf, can leave here head held high with a better reputation then they arrived with. Next week we head into an underground labyrinth (not the one filled with puppets and metrosexual rock-stars) and meet the amazing creature who built it, but until then remember to critic, comment and discuss future species to cover as well as checking out past issues in Impurest’s Bestiary.

Many Thanks

Impurest Cheese