Aardwolves live entirely on two species of termites. One of these species goes dormant during the cooler winter, so the aardwolves then switch to the other species for sustenance. This very restricted diet means the aardwolf has a very restricted range, entirely limited to areas where these two species of termites inhabit.
The aardwolf is found in arid grasslands and dry savannas in a discontinuous range from North East Sudan south to Tanzania, south Angola and south Zambia through to South Africa. There are two geographically separate populations, one centered in South Africa and the other extending from central Tanzania northward to southern Egypt. Some experts place the aardwolf in a separate family from the hyaenas because of certain anatomical differences between the aardwolf and the hyaena. For example, the aardwolf has five toes on its forefeet, whereas the hyaena has four.
The aardwolf is considered as a "Data Deficient" species by the IUCN. CITES lists the species as "Appendix 3".