The Aardwolf

Job 15:8
“Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?”

It looks something like a small hyena, has habits similar to both wolves and the domestic cat, and eats almost nothing but termites. This strange creature is called the aardwolf.

The aardwolf lives on the African continent. It eats a particular type of termite that is about one fourth of an inch long. Although there are other termite eating creatures in the same habitat, like the aardvark, they don’t prefer to eat those termites upon which the aardwolf depends. These termites build dome shaped mounds guarded by soldier termites that squirt long threads of nasty-smelling and bad-tasting chemicals at intruders. The aardwolf seems to tolerate their attacks better than any other termite eating creature, although, as one naturalist put it, the aardwolf clearly does not like the taste of the soldier termites. Both the termite and the aardwolf are active at night. In one night, the aardwolf may eat up to 300,000 termites.

The aardwolf is strongly territorial, tolerating no competitors in its territory. As solitary creatures, the mates will share the same territory, yet completely ignore each other. But when it is time for mating and raising the young, they work and live together perfectly, the male helping the female in every aspect of raising the young. And, like the domestic cat, the aardwolf buries its waste.

Evolutionists admit puzzlement about how the aardwolf is related to other creatures. This makes the aardwolf yet another of those creatures that witness to God’s inventive creativity.

Prayer:
Lord, as I look in wonder at all that You have made, I thank You that there is no limit to Your creativity. Help me to remember this wonder when I find myself in a situation where I fail to see how You are working for my good. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Notes:
Richardson, Philip R.K. 1990. “The lick of the aardwolf.” Natural History, Apr. p. 78. Photo: Aardwolf at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden. Courtesy of Greg Hume. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.