by Dixie Thomason

Created on: June 06, 2010

The aardwolf is an African member of the hyaena family. The differences between the aardwolf and the hyaena are aardwolves have bigger ears, five toes instead of four on their front paws and their muzzles are not as wide. Hyaenas also have stronger jaws and teeth than the aardwolf.

Aardwolves weigh between 50 to 60 pounds. They are mostly yellowish gray with black stripes in color. Their legs below the knees are black in color. Aardwolves have black, hairless muzzles and bushy tails colored black at the ends. These animals have long hair on their backs and necks. This hair normally lies flat, however the aardwolf erects this hair when it feels threatened. The name, aardwolf is Afrikaans for 'earth wolf'.

The aardwolf resides throughout southern and eastern Africa. It is most often found in bushy country or sandy plains. This is a nocturnal animal that spends the day time lying in burrows or rock crevices. These burrows are made up of two or more winding tunnels that are 25 to 30 feet in length, which end at a sleeping chamber. The sleeping chamber is approximately 3 feet in diameter. Abandoned aardvark dens are also sometimes used.

The aardwolf is considered an insectivore. Its diet is made up of mostly termites and other insects. However, the aardwolf does not have powerful enough claws to rip open a termite nest. Therefore, it can only get them from the ground's surface or by digging them out of soft dirt. When insects are scarce, the aardwolf will consume mice, small birds and the eggs of ground nesting birds.

Aardwolves become sexually mature when they reach two years of age. Female aardwolves give birth to one litter per year. This litter will contain from two to four babies. The gestation period for an aardwolf is from 90 to 110 days. Aardwolf offspring are blind at birth. Both aardwolf parents participate in rearing their offspring. Aardwolf cubs depend on their parents for 16 to 20 weeks. They spend the first six to eight weeks of that time in their den. Then they begin to hunt for food with one or both parents for approximately one month. After that, the young aardwolf is ready to hunt by itself.

The primary enemy of the aardwolf is man. In nature their enemies include pythons, lions and leopards. When threatened aardwolves use their long canine teeth to fight. They also omit a musky, foul smelling fluid from their anal glands.

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