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February 15, 2006
African Field Notes: The Spotted Hyena
Hyenas have some of the strongest jaws in the animal kingdom. With their powerful teeth and jaws and efficient digestion, the spotted hyena can utilize virtually everything on a carcass except the rumen contents and horns. The parts they cannot eat are regurgitated. Even desiccated carcasses yield protein and minerals during lean times. Because they eat bones, the hyena leaves behind white droppings.
Hyenas are just as dangerous as a lion — it's a good idea to keep arms in the car when they're around. Lions and hyenas have a long-standing dislike of each other. They steal each other's kills, and attack their young but don't eat them. There have been cases of packs of hyenas attacking lone lions, and of lions specifically hunting down a hyena den and killing the cubs, but not for food.
A hyena clan is a stable community of related females, among which unrelated males reside for varying periods. The highest-ranking females and her descendants are dominant over all other animals. Female hyenas are bigger than the males and dominate them. Cubs are raised in communal dens and males play no parental role, with only a privileged few permitted anywhere near dens.
A pregnant hyena will find a secluded burrow to have her young in. Usually twins are born in a burrow after a long, 4 month gestation period. Young are born with incisors and canines present, eyes open. Beginning only hours after birth, siblings of like gender battle for dominance, using the neck biting and shaking. The one that wins keeps the other from nursing until it weakens and dies. Two to six weeks after whelping, young are transported to the communal den. Young depend entirely on milk for about 8 months and are not weaned until 12 to 16 months old.
Latin Name: Crocuta crocuta
A Group Is Called: A Cackle (More At: Critter Collectives)
Check out our Safari South Africa podcast - an audio program and a video that features this animal!
Posted by sorsha at February 15, 2006 9:42 PM
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Comments
nice pics they are cool!
Posted by: denny | May 10, 2007 5:26 PM
those are some sweet @$$ pics
Posted by: bob | August 22, 2007 1:08 PM
Thanks, Bob and Denny!
Posted by: Lauren Darcey | August 24, 2007 1:03 PM
Are hyenas a type of dog and are they related?
Posted by: weldon clark | October 22, 2007 9:48 AM
That is an EXCELLENT question, Weldon.
Hyenas are not dogs. There are African Wild Dogs that roam in a similar ecosystem, but that's another topic...
From an Animal Kingdom classification perspective Dogs and Hyenas are both in the Mammalia (Mammal) class, and part of the order Carnivora (Carnivores). However, from there, the animals are broken down into two primary Suborders Feliformia ("cat-like") and Caniformia ("dog-like") animals.
In the Canine suborder, you'll find animals like dogs, bears, skunks, raccoons, and seals.
In the Feline suborder, you'll find animals like lions, bobcats, house cats, and saber-toothed tigers.
Hyenas were the most recent addition to the Carnivore order. Not everyone agrees where they belong in the Animal Kingdom, but they are currently listed, along with mongoose and aardwolves, under the cat-like suborder, Feliformia.
Hyenas look a lot more like dogs or bears than they look like cats but some of their other behaviors, like advanced scent marking capabilities, make them closely related to civets.
Posted by: Lauren Darcey | October 23, 2007 2:50 PM
hi i like your hyenas
Posted by: sherrie | November 16, 2007 6:20 AM
i like african animals like tiger, lions, cheetah
[Editor's Note: Edited for readability. Also, Arshad, tigers are Asian animals, no tigers in Africa (except in zoos)]
Posted by: Arshad mahmood | July 5, 2008 7:40 AM
awesome website!
Posted by: Robert Lee | April 17, 2009 1:41 PM