Their prime habitat is open, grassy plains, being entirely absent from forests or pure desert (Anderson 2013). In southern Africa the Aardwolf occupies diverse habitats, ranging from the karroid habitats of the Western Cape and Eastern Cape, the grasslands and scrub of Botswana, the open savanna woodlands of Zimbabwe, and the inland gravel plains of the Namib Desert in Namibia (Skinner and Chimimba 2005). They have also been recorded at 2,000 m asl in Ethiopia (Yalden et al. 1996). Throughout its distribution, the Aardwolf has been recorded to feed primarily on nasute harvester termites (genus Trinervitermes) and, in any particular region, mainly on one species. Aardwolves are largely independent of water (except during prolonged cold spells), satisfying their moisture requirements from termites (Anderson 2013). Comprehensive reviews of the species' ecology can be found in Koehler and Richardson (1990) and Anderson (2013).

The Aardwolf has a disjunct distribution in Africa, occurring in two discrete areas, 1,500 km apart, one in east and northeastern Africa and one in southern Africa. Their distribution is largely determined by the distribution of Trinervitermes termites, which constitute their principle food (Anderson 2013).

The northern subspecies extends from central Tanzania to northeastern Uganda, Ethiopia and Somalia, then narrowly along the coast of Eritrea and Sudan to extreme southeastern Egypt (in the Sudan Government Administration Area) (Yalden et al. 1996, Hofer and Mills 1998, Hoath 2003, Anderson 2013). Their presence in Djibouti is unclear (Künzel et al. 2000). A road kill from near Mbatwa in the Udzungwa Mountains of Tanzania in 2002 is probably the most southerly record for the northern subspecies (De Luca and Mpunga 2005).

The southern subspecies ranges over most of southern Africa, extending just into southwest Angola, southern Zambia (apparently south of the Kafue River), and south-west Mozambique, but it is entirely absent from Malawi, southern Tanzania, and most of Zambia (Hofer and Mills 1998, Anderson 2013). They are not recorded from Lesotho, but may well occur (Lynch 1994).

Aardwolves are present in numerous well-managed protected areas across their range. Grassland burning and livestock overgrazing result in a gross increase in the population of Trinervitermes, so Aardwolves would benefit in areas where management strategies favour these conditions (Anderson 2013). The population in Botswana is listed on CITES Appendix III.