THE AARDWOLF 83 



CHAPTER IX 



THE AARDWOLF. HYENAS 



THE AARDWOLF. This remarkable- animal is in form 

 rather like a hyaena. In general colour it is yellowish 

 grey, with a number of long black and white hairs pro- 

 truding through the fur. Along the back lies a crest 

 of long hairs which can be erected at will. The body 

 is marked with black transverse, and the shoulders with 

 black horizontal stripes. The ears are narrow and pointed, 

 the legs possess indistinct black bands. The tail is short 

 and bushy with a black tip, and the claws are non-retractile. 

 The length, including the tail, is about three feet, and the 

 shoulder height about twenty inches. The aardwolf is 

 met with throughout the equatorial region, where the 

 surroundings are suitable. It has not been reported from 

 equatorial west Africa and the forest region. In the 

 eastern Transvaal it is not found in the low veld proper, 

 and occurs only in the more open country among the 

 foothills of the Drakensberg, at a height of over 1500 feet. 

 As its name implies, it lives in holes in the ground, and 

 it is nocturnal in habit. 



The chief diet of the aardwolf undoubtedly consists of 

 ants, locusts, beetles, and other insects, varied occa- 

 sionally by carrion, and perhaps eggs. It is not very well 

 supplied with teeth, and its pace is slow. Such natural 

 drawbacks might well be deemed sufficient to exonerate 

 the creature from the accusations of lamb-killing often 

 levelled against it, especially in view of the fact that 

 competent examination of the contents of the stomachs 

 of dead animals has always indicated a purely insecti- 

 vorous diet, and that ordinary observers are notoriously 

 inaccurate in matters of this kind. The farmers who 



