Aardwolf (Proteles cristatus)

Not related to the Aardvark, Proteles cristatus, or the Aardwolf, is actually a relative of the hyena family. Aardwolf is Afrikaans for “earth wolf.” The Aardwolf is found mainly in the open, sandy plains or bush country of eastern and southern Africa.  Standing a mere 15-20” in height, the aardwolf possesses long loose under fur which is mixed with larger coarser guard hairs. They have a defense mechanism which enables them to erect the hair of the mane to appear twice their normal size to defend against predators. Their body hair is usually yellow-gray with black stripes. Their legs are banded black with entirely-black paws. They have a bushy, black-tipped tail.  The Aardwolf is not on the endangered species list, but is classified as rare in South Africa due to human hunting and habitat destruction. 

At X300 in Meltmount™ 1.662 you will notice a very broad continuous medulla and moderately high birefringence using crossed polarized light (Figure 21 & 22).

click image to enlarge (230K) Figure 21

click image to enlarge (268K) Figure 22

The cross-section shows the hairs to be oval-to-kidney shape. The medulla appears to be wide; the medullary index was calculated to be 0.62 (Figure 23).

click image to enlarge (349K) Figure 23

The scale cast of this sample shows an irregular wave-mosaic pattern. The SEM image of this sample, taken at X400, 5 kV, shows the margins are near with crenate edges. The width of the sample is ~163 µm, and there are 10-15 scales per 100 µm (Figure 24 & 25). 

click image to enlarge (201K) Figure 24

click image to enlarge (344K) Figure 25