Hyenas
All photos of striped hyenas on this page are taken by and (c) Nova BlueOne Kitten 2002. All rights reserved and so on... Email me if you wanna use these photos :)
Hyenas. Evil, ugly cowards? Not quite. Despite their reputation, hyenas are interesting, intelligent predators. Read and learn.
There are four species of
hyena; The spotted, the brown, the striped and the aardwolf. The spotted hyena
is often known as the laughing hyena.
Typical for hyenas are their long front legs, their large heads and their mane.
The hyenas are very important to the african eco system - keeping the savannah
clean and killing the weak and sick animals. They do not only scavenge for
already killed animals, they are also good hunters. Their lifestyle is similar
to that of many canines, which is why they look a bit like dogs. Hyenas are,
however, more closely related to cats.
Spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta)
The spotted hyena is the most famous (or should I say infamous?) hyena. When people think about hyenas, they usually think of this spotted hunter, also known as the laughing hyena. Actually, the sound is not a laugh (humans are the only animals that laugh) but rather a sign of anger, panic or fear.
The laughing hyena weighs up to 80 kg (about the weigh of a saint bernarnd!) and the female is bigger than the male. This is very important, as the leader of a hyena clan is always a female! One clan can have up to 100 members.
The spotted hyena is a
sandy brown colour with darker muzzle, legs and tail. It has dark spots all over
its body. The number and placement of the spots is different from hyena to
hyena.
The hyena also has a mane that goes from the back of its head down to the back.
If the hyena is scared or angry, it will erect its mane to look bigger and
meaner.
When the whelps (puppies) are born, they are pitch black. When the grow older their colour change, and you can see the spots. The whelps are very aggressive and might even kill each other. The mother takes great care of her young and protect them from the males, for they might try to kill the puppies (the same goes for some other animals, lions for example).
Spotted hyenas are known to
live mostly off carrion. This is not entirely true however, for the hyenas are
also great predators. Hyenas get about 80 % of their meals from hunting, while
lions only hunt about 50 % of the time!
The hyenas do not plan their hunt like wolves, for example. One hyena simply
chooses to attack, and the rest of the clan will come to help it.
Hyenas can, however, also choose to eat carrion. They can
quite easily take a cheetah's kill, and sometimes a clan of hyenas can even
chase a group of lionesses away!
The hyenas have very powerful jaws. They can crush bones with their teeth -
bones are important to their diet, actually! 15 hyenas can finish off a zebra in
15 minutes, and then they eat the bones, hooves and fur as well. What they can't
digest, they later throw up, just like cats and owls do. The only part of a
carcass that a hyena won't eat are the horns and the half-digested food in the
dead animal's stomach.
Not only the jaws are specialized for eating - so is the neck
and body. The hyena's long front legs and powerful neck makes it possible for it
to carry heavy objects - such as large pieces of meat - at high speed.
After a meal, the hyena often takes a nice bath. Not to clean
up, but rather to help the hyena digest the food. And for another, perhaps more
interesting purpose as well! When hyenas eat large amounts of food, they get so
much energy that the body temperature rises, and the hyena takes a bath to cool
off!
Spotted hyenas are also
intelligent animals, perhaps even smarter than dogs. They have been known to
follow vultures, as they know that the majestic birds will find food sooner or
later.
Hyenas are very aggressive animals. The female produce so
much male hormons (which makes you more aggressive) that their genitals look
just like the males'. So you can't tell a hyena's gender by looking between its
legs!
Hyenas can't be held as pets, no matter how much I know you'd want one ;) They are, like mentioned, very aggressive. Not only that, but they will also heavily mark their territory with urine, and won't hesitate to bite if threatened! The ancient egyptains tried to keep hyenas, but didn't succeed. They did mumify them though!
Below are some more interesting facts about hyenas!
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Brown hyena (Hyaena Brunnea)
The second largest hyena is the brown one. This hyena has longer fur than its spotted cousin and a bright peach coloured chest. Its legs are striped, while the rest of its fur is a deep brown. It looks a lot like a dog, perhaps a long-haired german shepherd. Its muzzle is shorter than the spotted hyena's, and it has a better sense of smell. Since it marks its territory with scent marks, smell is very important for it!
The brown hyena
is quite rare and found only in remote desert areas, such as the Kalahari
desert. It rests during the hot day, and looks for food during the freezing
desert night. Its fur protect it, and it can walk up to 50 km in one night!
Brown hyenas are the largest animals that live mostly off
carrion. It prefers to eat fruits, rather than hunt. If it needs to hunt, it
chooses to look for rodents, hares and small antelopes. The brown hyena has also
learnt to crack open eggs, while the spotted hyena simply stomps on them!
This desert hyena gets water from eating fruits - in these
areas, fresh water is a luxury!
Brown hyenas
aren't as aggressive as the spotted ones, but rather shy. It doesn't make any
"laugh", and is usually quiet.
Usually living alone, but not antisocial: a female, her whelps and several
relatives can live together. The adults greet each other by taking different
poses and nipping at each others' throats, while the pups rub their noses
against each others'.
This hyena's social life isn't as complicated as the other
species'. The male and female don't have any strong bonds between each other and
the female usuallly mate with several males that pass through her territory.
The whelps are born after 90 days of pregnancy. They are usually 2 - 4 in number, blind and deaf until they are about 1 month old. They suckle for three months, and after that, the parents bring them meat. They won't start looking for food on their own before they're about 10 months old. When the female is sexually mature, around the age of 30 months, she can choose between finding her own territory, or raise them where she was raised herself. Most males prefer to leave, and walk over large areas in search for a mate.
Striped hyena (Hyaena Hyaena)
This hyena is not only found in Africa, but parts of Asia, the Middle East, India and southern Russia! It's rare and close to extinction in some areas, however.
Striped hyenas are usually grey or yellow with dark muzzle, legs and tail. Of course, they also have stripes. The mane is usually a darker colour, and goes from the back of the head down all the way to the tail. It's used for communicating as well as scaring others off, by making the hyena look bigger than it really is.
The striped
hyena is usually nocturnal. It lives alone or in small groups of 2 - 3 animals.
During the day, they hide in a cave or thick vegetation. Every striped hyena has
a large territory of up to 40 square kilometres! It marks its home with strong
scent marks.
Very
little is known about the striped hyena's social life. No one knows
whether they form couples or just mates with any hyena that happens to walk by.
The female gives birth to 2 - 4 whelps every year, usually
during a period with much food. In captivity, where food is always available,
the female hyena might have two litters every year.
The whelps are born with fur, but are blind and deaf. They suckle any available
female, not just their mother. The parents will help each other to bring their
young food until they are old enough to find food on their own.
This hyena isn't
very aggressive, and might even play dead if attacked. It usually prefers not to
fight, even if it means having its food stolen. It's also rather quiet, and can
often pass by without being noticed, something I discovered when meeting the
striped hyenas of Öland's Zoo - they didn't make a single sound when they
walked by!
It often look for food close to villages, and some villagers
find this perfect, since the hyena will happily take care of their garbage, and
they might even make a hole in a wall so that the hyenas can come in.
But hyenas eat other things as well, in fact, it will eat
pretty much anything. Their body will take even the tiniest bit of nourishment
from whatever the hyena has eaten, and what can't be digested will later be
thrown up, such as hooves and bones.
Some things that might be on a striped hyena's meny are
fruits, such as melons, dates and peaches (they might even steal from
plantations and gardens) as well as some smaller mammals, birds and insects.
They striped hyena also find reptiles delicious - especially snakes!
Striped hyena
photo album
These hyenas (there are 4 different ones) live in Ölands Djur- och Nöjespark
(a zoo located on an island named Öland, which lays close to, and belongs to,
Sweden). I took these photos 11th of may 2002. A memory for life ^_^
Isn't she a beauty? How can you hate a creature like this hyena?
A scruffy old hyena with a
majestic mane and the most intelligent animal eyes I've ever seen!
I'm so sorry about the fence
destroying this photo... But look at those eyes! There's true intelligence
there! He (at least I think it was a he...) came forward and to take a close
look at me. I was so happy! I doubt I will ever get as close to a hyena again!
He was standing like 50 cm from me, and we had eye contact! :D
Hyenas like to dig! This hyena
has figured a clever way of escaping the heat of the day! Just look below :)
Mm... Sleepy *yawn* ^_^
You know, this pose is so "Nellie" (my dog, ya know!) Two of the
hyenas slept like this most of the day (I stayed by them for hours, so I should
know *lol* )
I just can't get enough of these hyenas :D
Aardwolf (Proteles Cristatus)
The aardwolf is sometimes not counted as a hyena, but as a one-of-a-kind animal, as it has several differences from other hyenas. For example, it has five foes, while other hyenas have four.
The aardwolf stands at about 40 - 50 cm at the shoulder, with a body length of 50 - 80 cm, and is therefore the smallest hyena. It can be found in eastern and southern Africa. It looks almost exactly like a tiny striped hyena, with light-coloured fur, dark markings and stripes all over its body.
Its name, aardwolf, means earthwolf, and comes from this little creature's love for digging for insects, such as its main food - termites! It has small teeth and weak jaws, but is specialized for these yummy insects! It might also eat carrion. It looks for food during the night, alone or in small groups.
Aardwolves have the typial hyena-mane, and uses it to look far bigger than it really is. If threatened, it may also eject a foul-smelling fluid from it anal glands. Against animals, such as dogs, it uses its canines to protect itself ;)