Can you guess her species?
A few years ago, farmers near Johannesburg, South Africa, were startled when they saw a border collie barking at something on the ground. Upon closer inspection, they discovered the creature the dog was fixated on—an unusual sight indeed.
At first glance, the animal appeared to be a baby hyena. However, the farmers soon realized it wasn’t a hyena at all, but an aardwolf, a creature whose name translates to “earth-wolf” in Afrikaans and Dutch. Though aardwolves aren’t endangered, they are extremely elusive, and most people in South Africa never get the chance to see one up close. These nocturnal animals are insectivores, particularly fond of termites, and can consume up to 300,000 in one night.
The farmers quickly noticed that there were no adult aardwolves around to care for the small cub. Concerned for its well-being, they searched for the cub’s mother over the course of two or three nights, but she was nowhere to be found.
“The farmers couldn’t find the mother,” Sarah Kempen, a veterinarian at the Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital, told The Dodo. Realizing the cub wouldn’t survive without help, they contacted the wildlife hospital, who quickly arrived to rescue the baby aardwolf. The cub, named Maple, was in poor condition when she arrived at the vet.
“She was severely underweight and dehydrated,” Kempen said. “We had to focus on getting her through the first few days and getting her to eat.”
When Maple was first rescued, she was so small and fragile that she needed bottle-feeding and round-the-clock care. For the first few months of her life, she lived inside Kempen’s home. Slowly, Maple gained strength and size, eventually taking her first bites of termite. Kempen decided it was time to start preparing Maple for the wild by moving her to a soft-release outdoor enclosure where she could acclimate to her natural surroundings.
Initially hesitant, Maple eventually warmed to her new environment, especially once she realized that the area was full of termites to feast on. That’s when Kempen knew it was time to set her free. She left the enclosure open, giving Maple the choice to leave whenever she was ready.
After a moment’s hesitation, Maple poked her head out, surveyed the area, and then walked off into the bushes. Just before disappearing from view, she turned around and gave Kempen one last look over her shoulder, as though silently expressing her gratitude for being saved. “When I look at her, I see gratitude,” Kempen reflected.