HYENAS

STRIPED HYENAS

Hyenas are thick-set and thuggish and are really the nature refuse workers. They are able to eat a whole carcass in short time and that includes hide, hair, giblets, hooves and bones.

Their solid head has powerful jaws and bone-cracking teeth. Their carnassial are strong and sharp enough to slice through gristle, sinew and skin. In their tough stomach is a corrosive acid which reduce bones to powder. The hooves, horns and hairs are regurgitated in a pellet.

Their body slopes down from their shoulder to their hind legs. A mane on their neck can be raised when they meet either friend or enemy. Their anal glands in pouches underneath their tails spread a smelly paste to mark their territory.

STRIPED HYENAS

The striped hyenas lives solitary and are shy. It hunts at night. It lives in North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. It is the size of an Alsatian dog and has a yellowish coat, grey and marked with horizontal stripes. The mane is long and black. When it hunts it adopts a zig-zags way to go and hunts at night for mammals, birds, reptiles, insects and fruit. It also finishes off leftover from a lion's, cheetah's or leopard's kill. Also the occasional dog and goat won't be left behind.

BROWN HYENAS

BROWN HYENAS

The brown hyenas live in southern Africa and have a long brownish black hair and lighter coloured mane. They are night scavenger and rest during the day mostly in a rocky hole or tall grass. At dusk and dawn they call with their wah-wah. They roam over a wide area in the dry Savannah and desert. The diet consists of carrion, carcasses of large antelopes, and some go along the seashore looking for dead fish, squid, mussels, seals and whales. They also called strand wolves because of that habit.

AARDWOLF

The aardwolf is a small, slender and striped hyena. Its muzzle is pointed. It lives in dry country and hunts at night; sheltering in burrows during the day. The aardwolf feeds on nocturnal Trinervitermes termites with its slobbery tongue. In the winter it has to change its diet to the Hodotermes termites because the other termites do not emerge in the winter.

SPOTTED HYENAS

The spotted hyenas are larger and have shorter rounded ears, coarse spotted coat, sparse mane and a black tuft on the tail. They live in family called clans. They mark their territory and defend it against other clans. A dominant female rules the clan and there a distinct hierarchy below her. The nursing females share a den and the dominant female has more milk. She also has more cubs. When the cubs grow up, the females join the clan and the males leave. They try to set up or join another clan.

Although the spotted hyenas are active and efficient hunters; they still exercise an important part of scavenging and food robbing. They hunt wildebeest, zebra, Thompson's gazelles and anything they can get hold of. With small games a solo hunter will bring down the animal but with bigger games two and more gang up to bring the animal down. They usual hunt young or sick or old animals.

UNUSUAL CHARACTERISTICS OF HYENAS

Females grow a penis and testicles, a copy of the male genitals. At birth the baby is squeezed through the 1.5cm opening on the end of the mother's penis. When they are born they have teeth and their eyes are open. They straight away show a high aggression to fight. This derives from the male hormones in their blood. They are capable of attacking their brothers and sisters trying to kill them in getting hold of their neck. They also prevent their brothers and sisters from getting milk and therefore many cubs die.