The aardwolf is technically a hyena — but you’d never guess it from its diet. While its cousins the spotted, striped, and brown hyenas hunt and scavenge meat, the aardwolf survives almost entirely on termites, licking up hundreds of thousands of them in a single night with a specially adapted tongue. It’s one of the most overlooked nocturnal species on the East Africa safari circuit, simply because it only comes out after dark. Explore our Tanzania safaris for the best night-drive itineraries.
Key Highlights
- The smallest member of the hyena family, at under a fifth the weight of a spotted hyena
- Feeds almost entirely on a single termite species, consuming hundreds of thousands per night
- Uses a rapid, sticky tongue to overwhelm the termites’ chemical defences before they can react
- Lives in monogamous pairs, with males taking an unusually active role guarding cubs at the den
- Erects a dramatic mane when threatened, doubling its apparent size to deter predators
- Only found on dedicated night drives — invisible on a standard daytime game drive
A Hyena That Doesn’t Hunt
The aardwolf (Proteles cristata) is the smallest member of the hyena family, weighing in at just 7 to 12kg compared to a spotted hyena’s 44 to 80kg. But its size isn’t even the strangest thing about it — its diet is. While its larger relatives hunt and scavenge meat, the aardwolf has evolved to feed almost exclusively on a single species of harvester termite, making it one of the most specialised eaters in the entire carnivore order.
Termite soldiers defend their colonies with a sticky, chemically defensive secretion, but the aardwolf gets around this with an extraordinarily fast, muscular tongue that can lick up termites far quicker than the soldiers’ defence can keep pace — clearing a feeding patch before the chemical deterrent has a chance to build up. It’s an efficient system: a single aardwolf can consume hundreds of thousands of termites in one night of foraging.
Despite living throughout the short-grass and open woodland areas of nearly every East African reserve with good termite habitat, aardwolves are rarely seen, simply because they’re active almost exclusively at night, well outside the window of a typical morning or afternoon game drive.
Distinguishing an Aardwolf from a Striped Hyena
At first glance, an aardwolf can look similar to a striped hyena — both have stripes and an erectile mane along the back — but the differences become obvious quickly. The aardwolf is much smaller and far more slender, with a narrow muzzle and longer legs giving it a fox-like build rather than the heavier, front-loaded silhouette of its larger relatives. Its foraging behaviour is a giveaway too: a slow, methodical walk with its nose held close to the ground, scanning for termite activity, quite different from the more purposeful scavenging gait of a striped hyena searching for carrion.
Life as a Termite Specialist
An aardwolf’s territory functions less like the exclusive hunting ground of a big cat and more like a rotating set of feeding patches. Rather than exhausting one spot, a pair works through dozens of foraging patches across their territory, giving each one several days to recover its termite population before returning — a sustainable system that keeps the termite colonies productive over the long term. Aardwolves locate these patches by scent, detecting the chemical signature of an active termite colony from a distance before moving in to feed.
Aardwolves are monogamous, pairing with the same partner across multiple breeding seasons and sharing a territory and den, often an old aardvark burrow. Males take an unusually active role in cub-rearing for a hyena species, spending long stretches on guard duty at the den entrance to protect cubs from spotted hyenas, jackals, and even martial eagles, all of which will take an unguarded cub given the chance.
When threatened, an aardwolf’s main defence is bluff: it raises the mane of long, dark-tipped hairs along its back to nearly double its apparent shoulder height. It’s a surprisingly effective deterrent — even spotted hyenas, many times an aardwolf’s size, will typically back away from a mane-raised aardwolf rather than press an attack.
Where and When to Find One
Seeing an aardwolf requires a dedicated night drive in an area with good short-grass termite habitat and a permit that allows after-dark game drives. The Ndutu Conservation Area in Tanzania is one of the best spots, with some of the highest termite densities in the Serengeti ecosystem supporting a healthy aardwolf population. In Kenya, the Olare Motorogi and Naboisho Conservancies bordering the Masai Mara, along with private conservancies on the Laikipia Plateau like Ol Pejeta and Lewa, all offer good night-drive odds.
A well-timed night drive in these areas can sometimes turn up more than just aardwolves — bat-eared foxes and aardvarks often forage on different termite species in the same landscape, giving guides the chance to show off several of East Africa’s most specialised insect-eating mammals in a single outing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the aardwolf really a type of hyena?
Yes. The aardwolf belongs to the hyena family, but unlike its meat-eating relatives, it feeds almost entirely on a single species of termite.
Where is the best place to see an aardwolf on safari?
The Ndutu Conservation Area in Tanzania and the Olare Motorogi and Naboisho Conservancies in Kenya offer some of the best odds on a dedicated night drive.
Why can’t you see an aardwolf on a normal game drive?
Aardwolves are almost entirely nocturnal, so they’re rarely active during the daytime hours of a standard morning or afternoon game drive. Spotting one requires a dedicated night drive.
How does an aardwolf defend itself from predators?
It raises a mane of long hairs along its back to appear much larger, a bluff that’s often enough to make even much larger predators like spotted hyenas back off.
Plan Your Safari
Our safari specialists can arrange a night-drive itinerary in Ndutu or the Mara conservancies for the best chance of seeing an aardwolf and other nocturnal specialists.
Contact us today for a free, no-obligation quote on your safari.
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