Nocturnal encounters: Aardwolves of the Kalahari

A few years back I was lucky enough to live and work in the Southern part of the Kalahari desert. Due to the nature of my research (on bat-eared foxes) I worked mainly at night, wandering the desert with a torch and a back-pack observing my study species. Of course, a happy side effect of this was that I often encountered other nocturnal species, and got to spend time in the company of other highly unusual animals which people rarely see such as aardvarks and the beautifully striped Aardwolf (Proteles cristatus).

An Aardwolf on the lookout

A bit of background on aardwolves

Aardwolves are members of the hyena family which feed exclusively on termites, using their long, sticky tongues to lick them up from the ground. They are almost exclusively myrmecophagous (termite/ant eating animals), though in the aardwolf's case this diet consists primarily of Trinervitermes, a fact which keep them out of conflict with other myrmecophages, as these termites secrete a compound most animals find repellent.

Trinervitermes

Aardwolf range

They are a species I had wanted to see in the wild for a very long time, and eventually I was fortunate enough to do so. These are those encounters:

First impressions last

My first such encounter began with the fox I was observing suddenly pausing mid-stride to stare unnervingly into the dark and start emitting a low, ominous growl. I looked in the direction he was staring, shining my inadequate torch into the night and wondering what was about to emerge over the dune we were facing. This is always a fun experience in the dark, alone and on foot. After a couple of tense minutes I saw movement, something trotting towards us and found myself for the first time face to face with one of the desert night's most unusual inhabitants.

And you thought hyenas were ugly!

I was absolutely transfixed as he silently approached, flared his mane at us and then, just as quietly, slipped away back into the dark. The whole encounter lasted about five minutes, during which time of course my fox took the opportunity to ditch me and left me wandering home with a big, stupid smile on my face at having encountered a creature, albeit briefly, which I'd wanted to see for years.

Second time's the charm

My second encounter was some months later and happened as I was searching fruitlessly for a fox. I caught something in my torchlight, eye-shine in the distance at just about the right height, then another set of eyes that stayed perfectly still as I approached. Those aren't foxes, I realized belatedly as the stripes flickered in my torchlight. I found myself staring at two young, utterly inexperienced aardwolf pups that looked back at me with the same brazen curiosity.

Yes, they're even cuter when they're this size

Being the hard-boiled zoologist that I am I absolutely did NOT make the sort of ridiculous gurgly cooing sound most people reserve for little kittens. I didn't. I swear. Ok I did but c'mon! Those things were cute. At any rate, the pups seemed not to mind as they went about their exploratory business allowing me to follow at a respectful distance. I spent about half an hour with them that night, before they retreated to the entrance of a nearby den and simply sat watching me, with no apparent fear or idea of what I even was.

It was the sort of magical moment that led me into my profession in the first place, an absolutely peaceful and mutually curious close encounter with a rarely seen and spectacular creature. As I turned to leave, the pups curled up, quite content to remain outside the den, presumably awaiting their parents return or whatever the next strange thing was the night had to offer.

A final word

Like many species, these guys are persecuted due to a lack of knowledge about their biology. Local farmers often poison or shoot them, believing the aardwolves to be a danger to livestock. Of course nothing could be further from the truth. So if you ever happen to be in those parts of the world where the wild aardwolves roam, be sure to share that fact with the people whose land they roam on :)

Well, Happy Steeming People,
The Wise Fox

General aardwolf facts:
http://www.africat.org/fact/aardwolf
http://www.krugerpark.co.za/africa_aardwolf.html

Images:
All images except pups and termite are from wikimedia commons, pups from:
http://boredomtherapy.com/aardwolf-is-cute/
termite: http://tolweb.org/onlinecontributors/app;jsessionid=B42800BC2DAA6FADCBDCC41A62FA5669?page=ViewImageData&service=external&sp=6845