The Mysterious Uknown creature, Aardwolf! - Hanya Awan
The aardwolf is an insectivorous mammal that is common and native to Africa. It belongs to the
same family as the hyenas and is remarkably similar to hyena characteristics, however, they are
not animal hunters. Unlike many of its carnivorous relatives, the aardwolf tends to seek insects
and bugs for their larvae and for a source of protein. They are commonly located all over the
continent of Africa but have been recently discovered more often in the Southern part of Africa
as well as Eastern and Northern Africa, they continue a trend of living in open, dry plains and
bushland to avoid mountainous areas. Aardwolves are widespread throughout eastern Africa and
in some regions, are persecuted because of the misconception that they prey on livestock and can
destroy farms. However, they are highly beneficial for the environment and farms as they eat
termites that are detrimental. Even though in some areas farmers have noticed this, many are still
killed and shot on occasion for their fur. Aardwolves are also killed by various dogs and other
carnivores and suffer from incidents on many roads. They live in family groups which consist of
a mated pair and their young, if their territory is exposed or shared with other animals; they will
chase the intruders for up to 400 meters (about 1312.34 ft) or to the edge of the border. If this
“intruder” is caught, which is not common but possible; a fight will occur which contains soft
clucking, hoarse barking, and a significant roar. During the hot African summers, the aardwolves
may rest outside their den during the night and sleep underground during the day to avoid heat
strokes. The Aardwolves locate their food by its sound and additionally from the scent secreted
by soldier termites that are easy to distinguish. They primarily feed on termites by licking them
off the ground and these aardwolves do not consume the whole colony of termites but instead
leave some behind to ensure that the termites can rebuild and provide a continuous supply of
food. They have an extremely excellent memory and can often memorize the location of such
nests so that they can return to them every few months when food is scarce. Aardwolves are
often thought of as a “primitive” hyenas, which means that they may have evolved from an
exceedingly early branch of the same family of Hyenas. Based on research evidence from the
past few decades, they have concluded that based on genetic and fossil evidence and marks, the
Aardwolves have diverged from the rest of the hyena family at some time period between 15 and
32 million years ago. It has also been thought that the aardwolf may not be a hyena at all due to
differences in traits and characteristics, but this explanation is no longer resourceful and
supported as it has fallen out of Favour of scientists from the evidence they have gathered. Since
aardwolves are specifically adapted for eating insects such as termites, some of their teeth have
evolved overtime into blunt pegs, which are barely capable of chewing meat and their powerful
jaws are used to defend territory instead. An individual aardwolf can consume up to 250,000
termites per night using it is long, sticky tongue which is tough and resistant enough to withstand
the violent and hazardous bites of termites. Additionally, Aardwolves use their manes to appear
bigger. For example, if another aardwolf intrudes upon their territory, they will raise their manes
extremely high to indicate a warning sign and chase the intruder away. There is a deeper
meaning behind the given name “aardwolf”. In fact, Aardwolves are also known as civet hyenas,
for the secretion of their anal glands and manhaar jackals. Their genus name “Proteles”, means
“complete in front” and refers to the fact that they have five toes on their front paws with four
toes on their back paws. Their species name “cristatus” translates to “provided with a comb”, in
reference to their manes. Many are living free in the wild there is a huge percentage of these
mammals that are killed for the benefits of their fur and aspects of trophy hunting.
Works Cited
“Aardwolf.” Animals, 19 Nov. 2021,
www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/aardwolves.
“Aardwolf.” AZ Animals, a-z-animals.com/animals/aardwolf/. Accessed 19 Apr. 2022.
“Aardwolf - Facts, Diet, Habitat & Pictures on Animalia.bio.” Animalia.bio,
animalia.bio/aardwolf. Accessed 19 Apr. 2022.
“The Creature Feature: 10 Fun Facts about the Aardwolf.” Mary Bates, PhD,
marybatessciencewriter.com/home/2015/09/03/the-creature-feature-10-fun-facts-aboutthe-aardwolf.