Today, only fourspecies of hyenas remain, the aardwolf, spotted hyena, striped hyena, and brownhyena. Today, we will talk about the aardwolf, the smallest of the fourspecies. Though it is a carnivore, or meat eater, aardwolves are insectivores,eating insects and their larvae. Aardwolves like termites in particular, andcan eat as many as a quarter of a million termites in one night.

Aardwolves arevery thin, and look similar to the striped hyena. However, they have a slendermuzzle, or mouth, and they have yellowish-tan fur. There are bold, verticalstripes on their sides and legs. They have a mane that goes down the middle oftheir neck and back, and when the aardwolf feels threatened, it can raise itsmane to make itself look larger. They have large ears, like the striped hyena,and also a bushy tail.

Aardwolves live inopen, dry areas and bushland, and try to stay away from mountains. They lookfor places where they can find a specific family of termites that they eat.There are two distinct populations of Aardwolves, one in South Africa, andanother in East and Northeast Africa. Because of this, there is a disagreementon whether Aardwolves are one species, or if the two populations are twodifferent subspecies.

Aardwolves feedprimarily on termites, and they lick them off the ground, rather than digginginto their nests. Using their large ears, they can find termites because ofsounds they make, and also from smell, since soldier termites secret a scent.Using their long, sticky tongue, Aardwolves lick up termites. They make surenot to eat all of the termites, or destroy the nest, which means they have aconstant supply of food. Unlike other hyenas, they are not scavengers, and donot eat carrion. They have been seen eating by dead animals before, but theyare actually eating insects and larvae.

For Wild Suzhou,I’m Ciana, thanks for listening and see you next time.