Aardwolf

The aardwolf (Proteles cristata) is a small, insectivorous mammal, native to East Africa and Southern Africa. Its name means "earth wolf" in the Afrikaans / Dutch language. It is also called "maanhaar jackal" (Literally "mane jackal" in Afrikaans) or civet hyena, based on the secretions (civet) from their anal glands. The aardwolf is in the same family as the hyenas. Unlike many of its relatives in the order Carnivora, the aardwolf does not hunt large animals, or even eat meat on a regular basis; instead it eats insects, mainly termites – one aardwolf can eat about 250,000 termites during a single night by using its long, sticky tongue to capture them. The aardwolf lives in the scrublands of eastern and southern Africa – open lands covered with stunted trees and shrubs. The aardwolf is nocturnal, resting in burrows during the day and emerging at night to seek food. Their diet consists mainly of termites, and insect larvae. The aardwolf is the only surviving species in the mammalian subfamily Protelinae. There is disagreement as to whether there are any subspecies or if the species is monotypic. Some sources say that there are two subspecies, P. c. cristatus of Southern Africa and P. c. septentrionalis of East Africa, whereas others say it is monotypic. Recent studies have shown that the aardwolf probably broke away from the rest of the hyena family early on; however, how early is still unclear as the fossil record and the genetic studies differ by 10 million years. The aardwolf is generally classified with the Hyaenidae, though it was formerly placed into the family Protelidae. Early on, scientists felt that it was merely mimicking the striped hyena, which subsequently led to the creation of Protelidae.