Aardwolf

Africa · termites · hyenas · insectivores

Part of hyena family. Even though aardwolves are hyenas, they're nothing like their meat-eating cousins. They're much smaller, gentler, and have evolved to be specialist termite hunters.

Termite vacuum cleaner. An aardwolf can eat up to 50,000 termites in a single night using its long, sticky tongue to slurp them up from their mounds. It leaves the termite tunnels mostly intact so it can come back for more meals.

Lives in East and Southern Africa. Aardwolves make their homes in the grasslands, scrublands, and savannas across countries like Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa, and Botswana, often taking over abandoned burrows dug by other animals.

Secret-keeping scent glands. Like African civets, aardwolves have special glands that produce stinky substances they use to mark their territory and send messages to other aardwolves. The name 'earth-wolf' comes from Afrikaans and Dutch words.

Shy night hunter. Aardwolves are nocturnal, which means they come out at night when termites are most active near the surface. This makes them hard to spot in the wild, even though they're not rare.