THE AARD-WOLF 



485 



what resembles a rather small and thin-bodied striped hysena, but it has longer ears 

 and a more pointed muzzle. The fur, which is inclined to be shaggy and of a woolly 

 nature, is of a yellowish or reddish-brown color, marked, with about half a dozen 

 transverse black stripes on the sides of the body ; and there may also be some dark 

 bars on the limbs. The long tail is thickly haired. The long hair on the back 

 forms a kind of crest (giving origin to the second scientific name of the aard-wolf), 

 which can be erected at the will of the animal. The claws like those of the hyaenas, 

 are not capable of retraction, and are rather long, with blunted extremities. 

 Whereas, however, the hyaenas have but four toes on both the front and hind-feet, 



THE AARD-WOI.F. 



(One-seventh natural size.) 



the aard-wolf has five toes on the front, and four on the hind-feet. But the most 

 peculiar feature is to be found in the almost rudimental condition of the teeth, 

 which may be either thirty or thirty-two in number, their small size being most ap- 

 parent in those of the cheek series, which are widely separated from one another, 

 and are quite unlike the strongly-developed teeth of the hyaenas. The skull, while 

 agreeing in many respects with that of the hyaenas, has also certain points of 

 resemblance with that of the mungooses. The aard-wolf may, in short, be regarded 

 as an animal which, in all probability, originated from the same ancestral civet-like 



