Aardwolf Hyena

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". The aardwolf is in the same family as the hyenas. Unlike its relatives, the carnivora, the aardwolf does not hunt large animals, or even eat meat on a regular basis; instead it eats insects, mainlytermites - one aardwolf can eat about 200,000 termites during a single night by using its long, sticky tongue to capture them.

The aardwolf is the only surviving species in the mammalian subfamily Protelinae. There are two subspecies: Proteles cristatus cristatusof Southern Africa and Proteles cristatus septentrionalis of East Africa.