13/05/2026
Meet the aardwolf. One of Africa's most misunderstood animals and arguably one of its most adorable.
Despite the name it is not a wolf. Despite the appearance it is not a hyena, well technically it is a member of the hyena family but it shares almost nothing with its bone-crunching cousins. While spotted hyenas are taking down wildebeest the aardwolf is quietly licking termites off the ground with a long sticky tongue. Up to 300,000 of them a night.
It is so specialized for eating termites that over millions of years of evolution its teeth have literally shrunk to useless pegs. It cannot chew meat. It still has fangs but only uses them for territory disputes with other aardwolves. It has essentially given up on being a predator entirely.
This creates a problem. Something that looks like a hyena but cannot fight or run fast is going to attract a lot of unwanted attention from things that can. Leopards, lions and spotted hyenas all prey on aardwolves. Black backed jackals specifically target the cubs.
So the aardwolf has developed a three step defense strategy.
Step one, raise the mane that runs down its back to make itself look significantly bigger than it actually is. Step two, double back on its own tracks to confuse anything following it. Step three, release a foul smelling liquid from its a**l glands onto whatever is chasing it.
It is essentially a tiny striped creature whose entire survival plan is looking bigger than it is and then hoping the smell does the rest.
The baby ones fit in the palm of your hand. The father babysits the den for up to six hours every night while the mother goes out foraging. Farmers in Africa sometimes kill aardwolves thinking they attack livestock.
They have never attacked livestock. They are eating the termites destroying the farmers' fields.
The aardwolf is one of nature's great underdogs. It has no weapons, no speed and no plan beyond smelling terrible.
It has been doing just fine for 15 million years.
