African Spotted Hyaena

The Characteristics, Social Behavior, Habitat and Food of the Hyena.

Oct 15, 2008 Yolande Pienaar

Visitors who know the habitat, food, characteristics and social behavior of the Spotted Hyaena enjoy spotting them in Game Reserves and conservation areas.

Southern Africa hosts various Game Reserves (Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Kruger National Park, Etosha, Central Kalahari Game Reserve to name but a few) where the Spotted Hyaena roam. They are the largest of the Hyaena species, the others being the Brown Hyaena (Parahyaena brunnea), the Striped Hyaena (Hyaena hyaena) and the Aardwolf (Proteles cristata).Although they are mostly nocturnal, visitors could also find them roaming about in the late afternoon and early morning.

Characteristics/ Physical Appearance of the Spotted Hyaena

The average size of the Spotted Hyaena is 80 cm tall, 150 cm long and weighing between 46 kg and 80 kg. With the front legs longer than the hind legs, Spotted Hyaena has a hunched appearance. The strong, muscled shoulders and neck are held high and the hindquarters kept low. Their coats vary from off-white to yellow and are dotted with irregular brown spots. The snout and lower legs are dark brown while a mane of longer hair, line their back.

Spotted Hyaena has a big, broad head with large rounded ears. The muzzle is short and blunt and the jaws are powerful enough to crunch bone and rip through tough sinew.

Distinguishing between the sexes can be problematic as the female Hyaena has false genitalia. According to the The Hyaena Specialist Group when the pups are about three months old, a determination of the sexes is possible by studying the sexually dimorphic glans (tip) of the erect phallus. Other clues to their gender are the male's more prominent testes, teats on the female's posterior belly, the lack of a distinctive paunch in males and the male's general submissive behavior toward the females.

Habitat of the Spotted Hyaena

Spotted Hyaena inhabits areas of open bush veld, savannah and semi-desert terrain. In South Africa these Hyaena are confined to the enclosed game reserves, but in the rest of Africa, they roam free. This often brings them into conflict with humans. When local farmers suspect the Hyenas are responsible for the killing of livestock, the farmers often retaliate by large scale poisoning of the Hyaenas. Shrinking habitats due to overgrazing and the subsequent diminishing of wildlife for pray are also indirectly responsible for their numbers in the wild declining.

Dispelling some of the myths surrounding the Spotted Hyaena also increase their chance of survival in a shrinking habitat. Myths include that Hyaena make good pets, commonly pray on livestock and have magical powers and that witches ride on their backs.

Social Structure of the Spotted Hyaena

Spotted Hyaena live in clans consisting of 3 to 15 (sometimes more) individuals and are territorial. The boundaries of territory gets scent marked with their droppings and discharges from their anal glands. An alpha- female dominates the clan and the males rank lower than the females. Female pups assume a ranking just below that of their mother from birth.

Communication inside the clan is important as the members often hunt and scavenge in smaller groups of two or three for food. A variety of sounds and calls are used to gather the members together. The nervous 'laugh/giggle' of the Hyaena is well known and their escalating two syllable call dominates the African nights.

One to four (usually two) dark brown to black pups are born throughout the year after a pregnancy of three and a half months. The pups stay inside the den while the adults forage for food. These dens are usually abandoned dug outs from warthog, aardvark and bat-eared foxes and are too small for the adults to enter, adding to the security of the pups.

Food/Prey

A general myth is that Spotted Hyenas are scavengers living only on carrion. While they do feed mostly on carrion, the Hyaena is in fact an accomplished and successful hunter. They kill antelope, young zebra and giraffes by biting their legs and tearing them apart when the prey falls.

Hyenas have a keen sense of smell, excellent hearing and eyesight and are usually the first to find the carcass of an animal killed by lions. As a group they would then sometimes attempt to allocate the carcass for themselves.

The Spotted Hyaena is truly a great predator of the African continent.

The copyright of the article African Spotted Hyaena in Mammals is owned by Yolande Pienaar. Permission to republish African Spotted Hyaena in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Spotted Hyaena in Early Morning