Geographic Range
Eastern and southern Africa

Biogeographic Regions: ethiopian (native ).

Habitat
Arid, open plains, savannas

Terrestrial Biomes: savanna or grassland .

Physical Description
Mass
9 to 14 kg
(19.8 to 3.8 lbs)

Aardwolves have a yellow/brown coat with several vertical black stripes. They resemble striped hyenas superficially, but their dentition is different. On the aardwolf's back is a strip of long dark hairs, which form an erectile mane that makes the aardwolf look bigger. Head and body length is 550-800mm and tail length ranges from 200-300mm. Shoulder height is 450-500mm. When attacked, an aardwolf raises the crest on its back, takes up a sideways stance to the attacker and emits a strong unpleasant odor from its anal glands.

Some key physical features: endothermic ; bilateral symmetry .

Reproduction
Males are generally solitary and associate with females only to mate. Usually there are 2-4 young in a litter, of which 2 at most will survive. Females raise the young collectively in small groups, that is, they are not particular about whose young they nurse. Generally 2-4 cubs live in a burrow.

Key reproductive features: gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual .

Behavior
Aardwolves are nocturnal and so are hard to study. Males, and females when not rearing young, are solitary, shy and elusive. They are sometimes seen in pairs or small groups. They live in burrows, many times taken from aardvarks, because of their proximity to an abundant termite supply.

Key behaviors: motile .

Food Habits
The aardwolf feeds on insects, mainly termites and larvae, but won't hesitate to snack on a rodent should come its way.

Contributors
Callan Garcia (author), University of Michigan: July, 2001.

References

Boitani, Luigi and Stefania Bartoli. Simon and Shuster's Guide to Mammals. Simon and Shuster inc. New York, 1983.