Scientific name: Proteles cristatus

can't dig out the termites. It has to stand beside or on top of the mound to lick up what it can. Aardwolves live in burrows in the earth, and come out only at night.An aardwolf in threat posture, its mane raised.An aardwolf can raise the mane of black hair on its back when frightened or angry to look much larger, and supposedly can even roar to frighten off an attacker.Eating insects has caused aardwolves to develop a social structure unique among hyenas. Their food doesn't have to be brought down by a pack, and it cannot be shared, so aardwolves have never evolved the clan system of spotted and striped hyenas. Instead, each aardwolf wanders through its range of termite mounds at night, searching for food (it can lick up 30,000 termites in a single night). Because of this, aardwolves are more or less monogamous, with one male and one female having a permanent relationship. The female may sneak off to mate with a more attractive male, then return to her mate. If she's too blatant about her unfaithfulness, however, she risks the male's abandoning her and her cubs.Aardwolves have clearly been separate from other hyenas for a very long time -- their ancestors must have branched off shortly after the origin of the family, in the early Miocene.