The Aardwolf is about 15-20 inches from the shoulder to the ground. Its Tail is 18-12 inches long. Usually, the Aardwolf weighs between 50 to 60 pounds when it is fully grown. It is usually a light buff color with an orange to it. It has 5 to 6 thick black stripes running down it's Back. The part under the knee is completely black.

 

The Aardwolf has many adaptations. One adaption is having bigger ears than hyenas so they can here better and know where the termites are by listening. They also have long and sticky tongues that they use to get the termites out of the holes that they are in. Aardwolves are very small and are shy animals compared to it's bigger and more aggressive cousin the hyena.

 

The Aardwolf stays alive by living in places that are fruitful with the food they need. They do well in their ecosystem they live in because they can find the food they need like Termites, insects and the eggs out of ground birds nests. You can find Aardwolfs in Angola, Zambia, in Fanbos of South Africa. You can also find them in Egypt down to Tanzania.

 

The exact population of Aardwolfs is not yet determined. The Aardwolf is slowly diminishing but they are not on the endangered list. The reason Aardwolf is slowly dying is due to the use of pesticides that are used to kill grasshoppers. Another reason their population is shrinking is because farmers kill them because they look like hyenas.

 

Farmers might also think that their cattle is endangered by the Aardwolf even though it doesn't eat meat. The Aardwolf's role in the food web is that it eats termites and insects. The thing that is good for the Aardwolf is that have small bodies and long legs that help them run fast to get to there territory to defend it or to get to its food. They only have to compete for food with there own kind or Aardvarks. The only thing that really kills the Aardwolf is mankind who kills them for there meat. Some people also kill them for there beautiful fur.

 

To protect itself from predators it shoots out an acid from its anal area. The Aardwolf also does this to mark its territory. The thing that stood out to me was that Aardwolfs are cousins to the hyena but they don't eat meat. The Aardwolfs are not scavengers either which means they will not eat anything that has already been killed.

I learned that Aardwolfs are very primitive animals and are not known to eat meat like their cousins the hyenas.

 

Author: Narisa G. 

Published: 04/2009

 

Sources: Watkins, Ken. "Aardwolf." Predator conservation trust. Predator conservation trust. 23 Jan. 2009. Taza V. "Aardwolfs." Aardwolfs. 23 Jan. 2009. Postanowicz, Rebecca. "Aardwolfs." Crusher's domain. 23 Jan. 2009. Michigan, University Of. "Animal diversity web." Animal diversity web. 23 Jan. 2009. Holt, Rinehart. Life science.