In modern wildlife, there are many varieties of wolves - from classic, gray, to polar. However, not everyone knows that there is a so-called earthen wolf. What is interesting this animal?
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Earth Wolf Description
The earthwolf, also referred to as the protolite, is the only species of the Proteles Cristatus subfamily. Its representatives are considered the smallest in the hyena family.
This species is very peculiar, and therefore was isolated in a separate subfamily. Earthwolves and hyenas are distinguished by the structure of their jaws. If the rest of the hyenas are powerful and strong, the protelli, on the contrary, are very weak. This factor is due to the nutritional characteristics of the terrestrial animal.
- The average weight of the protel is 8 - 12 kg.
- The height at the withers can be up to 0.5 m.
- The animal's fur is grayish-yellow, with small rare stripes, and a mane running down from the back of the head to the tail.
- The fangs of the wolf are not particularly strong, the prothelus has more teeth than the rest of the hyena-shaped ones - 32.
- In appearance and color, it resembles a small thin-legged hyena.
- It is interesting. The first hyenas inhabited the earth about 22 million years ago. At the same time, the animals did not live in the territory of modern Africa, as it is today, but in the vastness of Europe, penetrating the African continent much later. Gradually, the ancestors of hyenas were divided into two types (depending on the method of nutrition).
- The so-called dog-like individuals were typical predators feeding on herbivorous prey.
- Another subgroup, represented by larger and stronger animals, although it retained hunting skills, became scavengers and ate dead animals.Their strong strong jaws made it possible to gnaw bones of even huge animals (elephants, rhinos, hippos).
Much later, the first wild dogs that competed with ancient hyenas invaded Eurasia from North America. The latter were the losers and were almost forever wiped off the face of the earth.
However, not all disappeared - one species of animals in Africa remained. This was the so-called protel, a small earthen wolf. These animals survived due to a special type of food, different from the nutrition of wild dogs. As for the scavenger hyenas, they managed to survive in the fight against competitors and with climatic conditions and successfully inhabit the Earth to this day. But only 3 species of these animals survived. Thus, our planet is inhabited by 4 species of hyena-like animals, one of which is protol.
Habitat
Protels live in the vastness of South Africa, as well as in the East of the continent. Their habitat is quite torn: some live in the center of Tanzania, the other - in the vicinity of Egypt. They choose plains as their habitat, because only here they can find their specific prey.
Wolf lifestyle and nutrition
Earth wolves do not eat fallen animals, even in the hunger period. Occasionally, protels can eat an egg from a bird’s nest, a mouse or a lizard.
But the main food of these hyena-like animals is termites. In scientific terms, protels are termite-phages.
By the way. Earthwolves, unlike anteaters or aardvarks, do not destroy termite mounds. Protels patiently wait for insects to leave their homes and lick them off the surface of the earth with a wide tongue. As a result of night hunting, one wolf is able to eat from 200 to 300 thousand termites. This figure is about 100 million insects per year.
Earthwolves live in pairs, but the food is very intimate for them, and therefore animals hunt alone - in view of the peculiarities of their diet, they do not need help during the search for prey. Also, protels can form small groups, mainly consisting of females and growing puppies.
Earth wolves do not migrate, remaining in their usual territory. They mark their possessions with urine or musky fluid secreted from the anal glands. It is interesting that usually animals of both sexes mark the territory, although males more often.
Most of the day, protels are spent in underground burrows. At the same time, their strong claws allow you to dig them yourself, but, as a rule, earthen wolves settle in dwellings left by porcupines or aardvarks.
Population and species status
Male and female protels mate between June and July. After 3 months, 2 to 4 cubs appear in the bowels of the hole. The first month of life they remain in shelter under the supervision of their parents. Volchata need a mother for the first 3 to 4 months of life, while the family changes its hole once a month. Gradually, the puppies of the earthwolf leave the hole with their parents and begin to search for food. Having quickly mastered hunting skills, the young growth begins to feed on its own and by the year leaves its parental territory.
Note. Protels are not listed in the international Red Book, since their population is not considered to be at risk, although the number of these wolves living in the world is small.
However, in some places their numbers are significantly reduced due to hunting for these animals.
Natural enemies
Unfriendly neighbors living near the earthwolves are enough. Often the protel have to fight with jackals, lions, leopards and their own brethren - hyenas.
The wolf is not a very good runner and therefore the main tactics of his defense are built in attempts to become invisible, that is, in disguise. Additionally, protels can scare away predators with secretions from the anal glands, that is, their chemical attack strongly resembles the same procedure performed by a skunk. Defending itself, the earthen wolf begins to growl and yap.Another method of intimidating the enemy is to raise the withers on end. Thanks to this maneuver, the animal visually increases in size, and quite significantly - up to almost 20 cm.
Earth wolf and man
Black African hunters often see the earthwolf as prey thanks to its fur. Sometimes protels are exterminated as a power source. Peaceful farmers, on the other hand, consider these animals not dangerous or even useful. In addition to humans, danger for protels can be domestic dogs, as well as cars, often knocking down hyena-like animals in the dark of night.
The average lifespan of a hyena-like wolf is 8 years. In captivity, they can live up to 15 years. Earthwolves are very peculiar representatives of the hyena family. By the type of their nutrition, they significantly differ from their relatives, preferring to eat only insects - termites. The population of these animals is small, although protels are not considered an endangered species.
