Aardwolf

Description:

The Aardwolf can give the impression of been quite scary with its sort of wolf like apprence but that could not be futher from the truth! These little creaturs about the size of a Jackal are lighly built with a dog type of head with a black face with pointed ears and a slightly slanted back similar to that of a hyeana. The Aardwolf is the only speices in the family Protelidae, it is closely related to the hyaenas that is sometimes included the family Hyaenidae as subfamily Protelinae (Smithers, 1996). They are a puff yellow in colour with 4-5 balck horizontal strips on the body and on the limbs with black feet. The neck area is covered in a thick bushy fur which stands up when the animal is sceard or altered. There tails are also busy with the tips slightly blackend. They have a shoulder height of 50cm and can way anything from 5.2 -10.2kg. They have small teeth except for the canines.

Habitat:

Occurs in most habitats in Southern Africa , with the exception of true desert and forest.

Notes:

These little creatures feed almost exculsivly on harvester termites. They can eat over 300 000 termites a night!