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Aardwolf: The weirdo hyena cousin that eats 300,000 termites each night

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Name: Aardwolf (Proteles cristatus)

Where it lives: Savannah and grasslands in eastern and southern Africa

What it eats: Termites and ants

Why it's awesome: Unlike their meat-eating relatives, these solitary, nocturnal little hyenas survive on a diet almost entirely made up of termites. They can gobble up to 300,000 of the insects every night, using their sticky, super-long tongues to lap them up. 

Aardwolf tongues are broad and rounded, with big, hardened papillae, or the bumps on the tongue that contain taste buds. The sand they lap up with the termites helps the hyenas' digestion.

Thanks to this specialized diet, aardwolves have flattened, peg-like teeth that can't chew meat. While the Animals still have fangs, unlike their meat-eating counterparts, they only use them to defend their territory and cubs. 

Related: Siberian cave filled with mammoth, rhino and bear bones is ancient hyena lair

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