NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 
convince anyone that it could not deal with any 
bony matter or lumps of flesh, for its molar or 
grinding teeth are quite rudimentary, and its front 
or incisor teeth are small and blunt. This alone 
is sufficient evidence to make it clear to us that like 
the Aard Vark, the Manhaar Jakhal’s normal diet con- 
sists of soft food, or food which does not require to 
be torn or chewed before being swallowed. In fact, 
whatever the animal takes into its mouth is either 
swallowed entire or merely crushed to a slight extent. 
It is claimed by some farmers that Manhaar Jakhals 
kill and devour kids and lambs. It is quite true that 
they do resort to this practice, for hunger drives 
an animal to desperation, and will cause it to alter 
its ways considerably. 
On a farm in the Humansdorp district of the 
Cape Province, there are at least fifty Aard Wolves 
which live in the deserted burrows of Aard Varks. 
The owner of the farm keeps large numbers of 
different kinds of stock, including sheep and goats. 
He informs me that, although he has resided on 
the farm for a number of years, he has never sus- 
tained any loss through Aard Wolves. Knowing 
‘they are perfectly harmless, he never shoots or 
hunts them, consequently they are not so timid and 
secretive as they are in most parts of the country. 
In consequence he frequently sees them about 
before dark, and on many occasions has actually 
observed them among the sheep and goats shortly 
after the birth of the lambs and kids. He is posi- 
79° 
