|
Proteles cristatus
Afrikaans : aardwolf, manhaarjakkals
French : protèle
German : erdwolf
The aardwolf is a relatively small animal, more dog-like in appearnace than the hyena family to which it belongs. It stands at 40-50 cm from the shoulder with a tail length of 20-25 cm and has a length of 65-80cm from nose to tail and weighs between 8 to 12 kg. The body is yellow gray with black stripes and the underfur is long, loose, soft, and wavy and is interspersed with larger, coarser guard hairs. The legs are banded with black, and the part below the knee and hock is entirely black. The tail is bushy and tipped with black, and the hair along the back is long and crestlike, giving rise to the Afrikaans name of 'manhaarjakkal,' or maned jackal.
Aardwolves are solitary foragers, only coming together to mate and rear young. They are sometimes seen in pairs or small groups. The aardwolf has never developed a clan system like the spotted and striped hyenas because of their strict diet of termites. Since food cannot be shared or brought back to the den, aardwolves must travel and forage by themselves. They are nocturnal, becoming active around or just after sunset, usually resting for about an hour during the middle of the night, and retiring their dens before dawn. Their dens are normally enlarged springhare burrows, but they also frequent disused aardvark or porcupine burrows. Aardwolves are avid diggers and in the absence of holes, they will construct their own.
The jaws are weak, and the cheek teeth are vestigial and widely spaced, but the canine teeth are sharp and reasonably powerful and it uses them to defend its territory from other aardwolves. The aardwolf maintains its territory by extensive scent marking, wiping its anal gland on grass stalks and leaving a thin smear (±6 mm long) of orange to black secretion. These scent marks are concentrated along the territory border and particularly at dens and middens (areas where aardwolves defaecate regularly). Both sexes mark their ranges with secretions from anal scent glands. Surprisingly loud growls and roars can be produced under stress. If attacked by dogs, the aardwolf ejects musky fluid from its anal glands and may fight effectively with its canine teeth.
Gender differences:
Sexes are similar.
Habitat:
The single species, P. cristatus, is found from the southern border of Egypt to central Tanzania and from southern Angola and southern Zambia to the Cape of Good Hope. They occur throughout eastern and southern Africa, except in the south along the coast. These secretive and entirely harmless carnivores appear to have a wide habitat tolerance with a preference for semi-arid, open plains, savannas and grasslands where it lives in burrows in the ground. There are two geographically separate populations of Aardwolfs, one centered in South Africa and the other extending from central Tanzania northward to southern Egypt. Aardwolfs are mostly found in the grasslands and scrubs of Botswana, Karoo and the Northern Cape Province.
Diet:
This unusual species of hyena is a termite eater. It feeds almost exclusively on mound-living harvester termites (Trinervitermes spp.) These termites forage for grass in aggregations of several thousands on the soil surface. Trinervitermes cannot tolerate direct sunlight and so are nocturnal: in summer they may be active throughout the night and form the bulk of the aardwolf’s diet during this season.
In winter, the aardwolf feeds quite extensively on Hodotermes mossambicus (these termites are primarily active in winter and can forage by day) and aardwolfs may thus be active from mid-afternoon until an hour or two after sunset at this time of the year.
By using their acute hearing the aardwolf is able to detect termites in the ground and then using their broad, sticky tongue they lap them up. This limited diet means the aardwolf has a very restricted range and can only live where these two species of termites are abundant. On an average night an Aardwolf can consume anywhere from 200 000 to 300 000 termites.
So highly adapted to eating termites, the aardwolf's teeth, except for its canines, have dwindled to mere pegs incapable of even chewing meat. Although it was reported that a captive juvenile killed a number of birds, there are no substantive data on such behavior in the wild, although they are said by some to eat birds eggs, mice, carrion etc. Proteles has been accused of preying on chickens and lambs, but evidence to the contrary is overwhelming, and it is known that the aardwolf can scarcely be induced to eat meat unless it is finely ground or cooked. When seen near carrion, Proteles is usually there to pick up carrion beetles, maggots, and other insects.
Reproduction:
Since the male and female Aardwolf are solitary, shy and elusive not much is known about their social behavior, but it is believed that mating can occur throughout the yea, but usuallyr takes place during winter and the young are born during spring. Gestation lasts for 90-100 days and 2 to 4 cubs are produced. When the cubs are weaned both parents feed them regurgitated termites. The young begin to forage
with an adult at 12 weeks and are weaned at 16 weeks. Survival of young beyond weaning is 50 - 70 %.
There is usually one family per den but dens can be less than 500 meters apart. Pairs and family groups of five or six individuals are sometimes observed. Several females have been found, together with their young, in a single den.
Other:
Main predators : Pythons, lions, and leopards.
Proteles is threatened in at least some areas by human hunting and habitat destruction. It was classified as rare in South Africa by Smithers (1986).
Unlike the larger hyena which have only four toes on their forefeet, aardwolves have five toes, and for this reason, are sometimes placed in a separate family, Protelidae.
|
