An aardwolf is a small, striped mammal that lives in the grasslands and savannas of eastern and southern Africa. Despite its name (which means “earth wolf” in Afrikaans), it's not actually a wolf. Instead, it's related to hyenas, though it looks quite different from the big, powerful spotted hyenas you might have seen in nature documentaries.

The aardwolf is much smaller and less aggressive than its hyena cousins. While most hyenas are fierce predators with bone-crushing jaws, the aardwolf has a weak jaw and tiny teeth because it eats almost nothing but termites. A single aardwolf can slurp up 300,000 termites in one night, licking them off the ground with its long, sticky tongue. It's like a specialized vacuum cleaner for insects.

Aardwolves are nocturnal, meaning they come out at night to hunt. During the day, they sleep in underground burrows, often ones abandoned by aardvarks. When threatened, an aardwolf can make its mane stand up to look bigger and scarier than it really is.