Interesting facts about Aardwolf by weird square
Channel: Animal Square
Date: 2018-01-11

#pet #animal : The most, new, latest, shocking, weird, scary, funny, fascinating, interesting and amazing things | facts in the world.

The aardwolf (Proteles cristata) is a small, insectivorous mammal, native to East and Southern Africa. Its name means "earth wolf" in Afrikaans and Dutch. It is also called "maanhaar jackal" (Afrikaans for "mane jackal") or civet hyena, based on its habit of secreting substances from its anal gland, a characteristic shared with the civet. The aardwolf is in the same family as the hyena. Unlike many of its relatives in the order Carnivora, the aardwolf does not hunt large animals. It eats insects, mainly termites – one aardwolf can eat about 250,000 termites during a single night, using its long, sticky tongue to capture them. The aardwolf lives in the shrublands of eastern and southern Africa – open lands covered with stunted trees and shrubs. It is nocturnal, resting in burrows during the day and emerging at night to seek food. Its diet consists mainly of termites and insect larvae.
The aardwolf resembles a very thin striped hyena, but with a more slender muzzle, black vertical stripes on a coat of yellowish fur, and a long, distinct mane down the midline of the neck and back. It also has one or two diagonal stripes down the fore- and hind-quarters, along with several stripes on its legs. The mane is raised during confrontations to make the aardwolf appear larger. It is missing the throat spot that others in the family have. Its lower leg (from the knee down) is all black, and its tail is bushy with a black tip. The aardwolf is about 55 to 80 cm (22 to 31 in) long, excluding its bushy tail, which is about 20–30 cm (7.9–11.8 in) long, and stands about 40 to 50 cm (16 to 20 in) tall at the shoulders. An adult aardwolf weighs approximately 7–10 kg (15–22 lb), sometimes reaching 15 kg (33 lb). The aardwolves in the south of the continent tend to be smaller (about 10 kg (22 lb)), whereas the eastern version weighs more (around 14 kg (31 lb)).[8] The front feet have five toes each, unlike the four-toed hyena. The teeth and skull are similar to those of other hyenas, though smaller, and its cheek teeth are specialised for eating insects. It does still have canines, but, unlike other hyenas, these teeth are used primarily for fighting and defense. Its ears, which are large, are very similar to those of the striped hyena.
Aardwolves live in open, dry plains and bushland, avoiding mountainous areas. Due to their specific food requirements, they are only found in regions where termites of the family Hodotermitidae occur. Termites of this family depend on dead and withered grass and are most populous in heavily grazed grasslands and savannahs, including farmland. For most of the year, aardwolves spend time in shared territories consisting of up to a dozen dens, which are occupied for six weeks at a time. Animal planet | Discovery | Netflix | Documentary | Animal World
 | BBC Earth | NatGeoWild | Brave wilderness | The Dodo| Animal Aid Unlimited | Animal Planet | Real Wild | iPanda | Hope for Paws | Kruger Sightings | Discovery #animals 
#animalvideos 
#animaldiscovery 
#animalfacts 
#animalfriends 
#animalfood 
#animalgk 
#animalhoues 
#animallover 
#animallove 
#animallivesmatter 
#animallife