:: Spotted Hyena - Crocuta crocuta ::

Classification & Range

Spotted hyenas are the largest member of the family Hyaenidae. This family also includes three other hyena species, the aardwolf (found in south, east and northeast Africa); the striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena), found in northern Africa, southwest Asia and India; and the brown hyena (Parahyaena brunnea), which is found in limited areas of southern Africa, except most of South Africa. Spotted hyenas range throughout most of Africa south of the Sahara, except for the rain forests and most of South Africa. They once lived in South Africa but were eliminated in much of that region. Hyena populations have also been severely reduced in some savanna plains areas.

Physical Description

Male weight is 123-138 lb, height 32-34 inches; female weight is 147-165 lb, height 34-35 inches. They have a sturdy build, long neck, high shoulders, and long muscular legs, with the forelegs longer than hind legs and four toes on each foot with non-retractile claws. The head is massive with rounded ears and robust teeth adapted for chewing bones. The coat is rough, comparatively short, and ranges in color from reddish-brown to tan, growing lighter and less spotted with age. Spots are black and rounded. Tail tip, muzzle and lower parts of limbs are dark brown. A slight mane may be present on neck and shoulder.

Diet and Hunting Behavior

Hyenas hunt alone or in packs led by their female leader, and kill by tearing their prey apart. Typical prey species are herbivorous mammals, and include gazelle, water buffalo, zebra, warthog, and young giraffe, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus. However, they have been observed feeding on a wide variety of prey, including mammals, birds, fish and reptiles. Spotted hyenas have been known to kill and scavenge off of domestic livestock, such as cattle, sheep, goats, poultry, horses, donkeys, camels and even cats and dogs. They can and do feed on carrion, as most predatory species do, but it only makes up less than 5% of their total diet.

Hunting is usually at night, but they sometimes hunt during the day. They tend to hunt alone or in small groups of 2-5 individuals. They detect their prey using sight, hearing and smell. Hyenas will travel extinsively throughout their territory in search of prey. Some hyenas have been known to travel for 42-80 km in search of adequate prey sources. Once prey is found, the group will travel up to 2-3 km in active pursuit of prey, and can run at speeds of up to 60 km/hr. The group will often run through a herd of ungulates to single out an individual. Though they will usually catch diseased, weak, very young or very old individuals, healthy prey items are often taken. They kill their prey by severing the major arteries and veins in the neck and by disemboweling. Usually after a kill, the females will disperse with pieces of the kill and eat at a distance. Males and females may will fight over food, but the female usually is the winner because of her massive size. One hyena can eat 14.5 kg per meal. Hyenas have been known to cache food underwater.

Relationship with other Predators

Hyenas will often steal kills from the smaller felids, such as cheetahs and leopards. They will watch a cheetah make a kill, then chase the exhausted cat away from its kill, since the cheetah is not strong enough to fight off the larger hyena, nor able to sustain severe injuries, since any injuries to the cheetah will impair its ability to hunt. A pack of hyenas will actually harass a leopard out of its meal, following the leopard until it climbs up into a tree and harass it from the ground, waiting for it to drop its kill to them below. They will sometimes catch the leopard with its kill before it has a chance to escape, and since a single leopard cannot fend off a pack of hyenas, it abandons its kill. Silver backed jackals pose no threat to the larger hyenas, who see them as more of a nuisance than an actual competitor. The more agile jackals will dart in and out of a kill that hyenas are feeding off of, and may even be so bold as to join them while they are eating. African wild dogs also compete with hyenas over food, and often steal the wild dog's kills. However, since African wild dogs travel in such large numbers, they can intimidate a hyena and have a better chance of protecting their kills. Wild dogs have been seen often stealing kills from hyenas just as often. Since the other predators in Africa, such as the serval, caracal, and other small wildcats, usually feed on small prey like rodents and birds, they are not in direct competition with the hyena, and thus have little to worry about.

The most dramatic relationship, however, is between hyenas and Africa's largest predator, the African lion. There seems to be a constant war between these two gregarious species, and it is not always over food, either. Normally, boundaries of another species are disregarded, but not in the case of the hyena and lion. They will put up boundaries against each other as they would against members of their same species, and threaten each other at the borders with snarls, roars, urine, and paste. If one should happen to wander into the other's territory, it will be mauled by a gang from the other species. A pack of hyenas can easily kill a lioness, and are enough to intimidate an entire pride. Hyenas will kill lion cubs, and lions will kill both adult and juvenile hyenas. Lions will steal hyenas' kills just as many times as hyenas steal kills from lions. Sometimes, a neighboring clan and pride will wage a war with each other, usually in the dry season during a severe famine or drought, when resources are low. One will start, and invade the other's territory, and intimidate the other into leaving the area. Often, prides with more than one male are at the advantage, and are less the target of hyenas as would be prides with one or no males, since male lions are the only thing that truly intimidate a hyena. The lion is the only natural predator of the hyena.

Fascinating Facts

- Determining the sex of males and females is difficult, because their reproductive organs appear similar!
- Hyenas were not scientifically studied in their natural habitat until the 1960s!
- The spotted hyena is a very noisy animal. A spotted hyena will make a giggling noise including a long, manic whoop best transcribed as "oooooh-WHUP!." None of these sounds indicate humor as humans know it.

In case you are interested in seeing one with your own eyes, most zoos don't care to display hyenas, because there still isn't much public demand. People still think of hyenas as cowardly, ugly scavengers.

Here's a picture of a spotted Hyena.

Here's [a poor-quality AU file] of their cries.

I am no big lover of Hyenas but I have this sudden interest in them after a friend of mine told me about this animal that will make a giggling noise including a long, manic whoop best transcribed as "oooooh-WHUP!." This is their way of expressing their intense fear or excitement.