Hyenas, where they live, what they eat, how they hunt, description, types, photos, videos. Striped hyena: description, lifestyle, characteristics and interesting facts Hyena their appearance and reproduction

In Africa, an inexperienced traveler faces numerous dangers at every turn. This continent is inhabited by various animals, which are better not to meet alone. These are not only lions, crocodiles, leopards, cheetahs, rhinos, elephants, but also hyenas. At night, these flocking predators become more active, and woe to the traveler who did not have time to make a big fire and stock up on firewood for the whole night.

The spotted hyena is the largest representative of carrion mammals. It embodies to the greatest extent all the habits, features and structure characteristic of this species. The body length of the spotted hyena is from 95 to 166 cm, the tail is from 26 to 36 cm, and the height of the withers is about 80 cm.

Although this species is relatively small, it is dangerous for humans, especially in a flock. These are very ferocious predators. Spotted hyenas are the only mammals whose jaws are capable of creating tremendous pressure (from 50 to 70 kg per sq. cm). They easily gnaw the bones of a hippopotamus. Spotted hyenas are listed in the Red Book. They live in natural conditions up to 25 years, in captivity - up to forty.

Spotted Hyena Habitat - Wild Africa

This type of predator can only be found in Africa. The most common habitat for spotted hyenas is the entire area south of the Sahara. This is mainly the south and east of Africa, next to the Ngorongoro Crater, in Kenya, the Serengeti, Botswana and Namibia.

Wild Africa is rich in desert and jungle, but spotted hyenas are not found there. Their favorite places to live are savannahs. These animals are not very friendly with other representatives of their species, therefore, striped and brown hyenas are often driven out of their inhabited places.

What does a spotted hyena look like?

Representatives of this species have a wide black muzzle, resembling a dog, with rounded ears. Spotted hyenas have very powerful jaws, a sloping back, and hind legs shorter than the front ones. Despite the uneven height of the legs, hyenas are able to reach speeds of up to 65 km / h. The limbs of predators are four-fingered, the claws are not retractable. When running, hyenas step on their toes. The coat of animals is short, except for coarse hair on the back and neck, which form a mane.

Color

The spotted hyena has several color options. It can be dark or light. Coat color - yellow-brown with dark or light brown spots on the body. The muzzle is black, on the back of the head it has a reddish tint. Head brown, without spots. The limbs of the legs are tinged with grey. The tail is brown with a black tip.

Voice

The spotted hyena emits up to 11 different lingering howls, more like "laughter", these animals use to communicate with each other. During fights for prey, they "giggle", "laugh", growl and shout. Moans and squeals are used to greet.

Interestingly, the flock rarely or late reacts to the sounds of males, and immediately to the signals given by females. A low growl and grunting sounds (with the mouth closed) express aggression. A high-pitched, cackling-like "laughter" is made when agitated or in danger (such as when a hyena is being chased). Predators use a loud and deep vibrating growl before attacking and defending as a threat. When a lion appears, the hyena signals to its brethren with a loud, low growl.

Hierarchy in flocks

Wild hyenas live in matriarchal clans, in areas up to 1800 square meters. km. In flocks there is a rigid hierarchy. Females dominate the opposite sex. However, there is an additional division between them. Adults are considered in charge. They are the first to start eating, rest at the entrance to the den, grow more offspring. Females with a lower position in the pack do not receive such privileges, but belong to the middle of the hierarchy.

Males occupy the lowest rung. At the same time, they also have a similar division. High-ranking individuals have priority access to females. Nevertheless, all demonstrate a general submissiveness to the other sex. For breeding, males often join new flocks.

Among spotted hyenas, inter-clan wars for habitat constantly occur. The boundaries of the territory are constantly patrolled by these predators and are demarcated by feces, as well as anal secretions of odorous glands. The number of one clan can reach from 10 to 100 individuals.

Sex organs

The spotted hyena has unique genitalia. All females have an organ in the form of a penis. Only an experienced specialist can distinguish the gender of these animals. The female genitalia resemble those of the male. The clitoris is very similar to the penis. Below it is the scrotum. The urogenital canal passes through the clitoris.

Enemies of spotted hyenas

These predators have "eternal" rivals. Lions and hyenas are constantly competing. This struggle takes sometimes cruel forms. Hyenas love to attack small lion cubs and often kill old and sick adults. In response, the lions destroy the hyenas. The war between predators is also for food. Lions and hyenas often chase each other away from their prey. The victory goes to the more numerous "detachment".

What can hyenas eat? Wildlife has created unique "orderlies". These predators are capable of assimilating everything - skin, bones, hooves, horns, teeth, wool and feces. All this is digested in the stomach during the day. These predators also feed on dead animals that are almost completely decomposed.

However, 50% of the diet of spotted hyenas are the corpses of ungulates (rhinos, zebras, gazelles, antelopes, etc.). Predators often pursue sick and old animals. They also feed on hares, porcupines, gazelles, warthogs and many other animals. For example, a pack of hyenas can even attack such giants as a giraffe, a rhinoceros and a hippopotamus.

Hunting

These predators retain a reputation for being cowardly, but this is far from being the case. According to numerous studies, hyenas are excellent hunters that excel lions in this art. These scavengers are most active at night. In search of food, hyenas travel long distances - up to 70 kilometers in one day. During the day, they hunt less often, preferring to rest in the shade or lie in the water in shallow water.

The hunting of hyenas consists in exhausting the prey with a long run. These predators can run a huge distance. When they overtake prey, they gnaw through the main blood arteries on their paws. Hyenas do not strangle their victims, like many other predators, but begin to tear the still living flesh.

Hunting is different. They go out to a medium-sized gazelle singly, to antelopes - in small groups of 3 to 4 individuals. When hunting, they make different sounds, but more often - “laughter”, turning into a drawn-out howl.

Thanks to their excellent sense of smell, African hyenas are able to smell carrion at a distance of over 4 kilometers. They use sight and hearing to hunt. Despite the eternal war with lions, hyenas will not be able to take their prey if there is an adult healthy male in the enemy camp.

The spotted African predator is an amazing animal. The hyena has a certain cowardice in its habits, which can best be called caution. She is very aggressive and cheeky. If the hyena is hungry, it is able to bite even large animals. In hunting, he tries to use his huge jaw strength, fast running and ferocity. A hungry hyena can also attack people. At the same time, she is so strong that she can carry away the human body at a gallop with ease and alone.

reproduction

To breed, the spotted hyena uses the burrows of other animals or small caves. Cubs, despite its aggressiveness, she does not eat. Increased viciousness is due to the high content of the hormone androgen. But this quality is given by nature to protect offspring, so that females can protect and feed their cubs, which reach puberty only by 3 years.

Offspring appear before the start of the rainy season. Females bear cubs for approximately 100 days. One litter can contain up to four babies at the same time. They are born already sighted and with good hearing. After 3 months, the babies already weigh over 14 kg.

If the cubs are same-sex, then almost immediately after birth, a struggle to the death begins between them. Spotted hyenas feed their offspring with milk for more than a year, but nevertheless, this does not prevent the young from starting to hunt and eat fully from the first months of life.

The benefits of hyenas in nature

These animals occupy one of the main places in maintaining the savannah ecosystem. These are natural "nurses". They kill nearly 12% of the Serengetti each year, allowing herbivores to keep their species' density within reasonable limits. Basically, old or sick animals fall into the teeth of spotted hyenas.

The spotted hyena is a predatory mammal of the hyena family. It is the most common member of the Crocuta species. They are also known as the laughing orderlies of the African expanses.

Description of the spotted hyena

These representatives of the fauna are famous for their bad temper.. "In the people" they are considered aggressive, cowardly animals that feed on carrion. Is it deserved A traveler with a lack of experience in Africa faces many dangers. The spotted hyena is one of them. They often attack in packs at night. Therefore, woe to that guest who did not make a fire and did not stock up on firewood for the whole night.

It is interesting! Studies show that the social intelligence of the spotted hyena is on par with some primate species. Their mental development is one step higher than other predators, due to the structure of the frontal cortex of the brain.

It is believed that the ancestors of the spotted hyena budded from the true hyena (striped or brown) during the Pliocene era, 5.332 million-1.806 million years ago. The spotted ancestors of hyenas, with developed social behavior, increased pressure from rivals forced them to “learn” to work in a team. They began to occupy larger territories. This is also due to the fact that migratory animals often became their prey. The evolution of the hyena's behavior was not without the influence of lions - their direct enemies. Practice has shown that it is easier to survive by forming prides - communities. This helped to more effectively hunt and defend their territories. As a result, their numbers have increased.

According to the fossil record, the first species appeared in the Indian Subcontinent. Spotted hyenas have colonized the Middle East. Since then, the habitat of the spotted hyena, like its appearance, has changed a bit.

Appearance

The length of the spotted hyena ranges from 90 - 170 cm, depending on sex, development and age, height - 85-90 cm. The hyena's body is covered with short coarse hair with undercoat. Long hair covers only the neck, giving the impression of a light mane. The body color is pale brown with a darkened muzzle, similar to a mask. The wool of the spotted hyena is covered with dark spots. In some individuals, it has a slightly reddish tint in the back of the head. The body of the hyena has a sloping body with high shoulders and low hips. Their large, rounded body rests on comparatively thin, gray paws, each with four toes. The hind legs are slightly shorter than the front. Large round ears are set high on the head. The shape of the muzzle of the spotted hyena is short and wide with a thick neck, outwardly it looks like a dog.

Sexual dimorphism is pronounced in the appearance and behavior of spotted hyenas. Females are significantly larger than males due to excess testosterone. It is more in females than in males. On average, female spotted hyenas are 10 kg heavier than males and have a more muscular body. They are also much more aggressive.

Separately, it is worth talking about her voice. The spotted hyena is capable of making up to 10-12 different sounds, differentiated as signals for relatives . Laughter, similar to a prolonged howl, is used for communication between individuals. Animals can greet each other using groans and squeals. You can also hear from them "giggles", howls and growls. For example, a low growl with a closed mouth symbolizes aggression. A hyena can make such a sound to a flock during the approach of a lion.

The response to the same signals from different individuals can also be different. The inhabitants of the flock react to the cries of males "reluctantly", with a delay, to the sounds made by the female - immediately.

Lifestyle

Spotted hyenas live in large clans, from 10 to 100 individuals. These are mostly females, they form the so-called matriarchy clan headed by an alpha female. They mark their territory and protect it from other hyenas. There is a strict hierarchy within the clan among females who compete with each other for social position. Females dominate males through aggressive displays. Females are divided according to age. Older adults are considered the main ones, they are the first to eat, they produce an order of magnitude more offspring. The rest do not have such privileges, but still are in the hierarchy one step above the males.

Males also have a certain division according to similar characteristics. Dominant males have more access to females, but all as one bow to the "women" of the pack. In connection with such a tough state of affairs, some males often run across to other flocks for breeding.

It is interesting! Spotted hyenas have an elaborate greeting ritual of sniffing and licking each other's genitals. The spotted hyena raises its hind leg for acquaintance so that another individual can sniff it. These highly socialized mammals possess the most complex social structure of primates.

Different clans can wage wars against each other in the struggle for territory. Rivalry among spotted hyenas is expressed in a tough form. They behave differently with their own children. Cubs are born in a communal lair. Siblings of the same sex will fight for dominance, bite each other and inflict sometimes fatal wounds. The winner will dominate the rest of the offspring until they die. Offspring of the opposite sex do not compete with each other.

How long does a spotted hyena live

In its natural habitat, the spotted hyena lives for about 25 years, in captivity it can live up to forty.

Range, habitats

The habitat of the spotted hyena is chosen by the savannas, which are rich in animals included in their favorite diet. They can also be found in semi-deserts, woodlands, dense dry forests, and mountain forests up to 4000m in height. They eschew dense rainforests and deserts. You can meet them in Africa from the Cape of Good Hope to the Sahara.

Spotted hyena diet

The main food of the spotted hyena is meat.. Previously, it was believed that their diet was only carrion - the remains of animals malnourished by other predators. This is far from true, spotted hyenas are primarily hunters. They get about 90% of their food by hunting. Hyenas go fishing alone or as part of a flock led by a female leader. They most often prey on large herbivores. For example, gazelles, buffaloes, zebras, wild boars, giraffes, rhinos and hippos. They may also feed on small game, livestock and carrion.

It is interesting! Despite well-developed hunting skills, they are not picky eaters. These animals do not disdain even a rotten elephant. Hyenas have become the dominant predator in Africa.

Spotted hyenas hunt mostly at night, but are sometimes active during the day. They travel a lot in search of prey. The spotted hyena can reach speeds of about 65 kilometers per hour, which gives it the ability to keep up with a herd of antelope or other animals and grab its prey. A powerful bite helps a hyena to overcome a large animal. One bite to the neck area allows you to break the victim's large blood vessels. After being caught, other animals in the pack help gut the prey. Males and females may fight for food. As a rule, the female wins the fight.

The powerful jaws of the spotted hyena can even cope with the thick femur of a large animal. The stomach also digests everything that gets into it from horns to hooves. For this reason, the feces of this animal are often white in color. If the prey is too large, the hyena can hide some of it for later.

natural enemies

Spotted hyenas are at enmity with. This is their almost only and constant enemy. Of the total share of deaths of spotted hyenas, 50% die from the fangs of a lion. Often it is about protecting your own borders, sharing food and water. So it happened in nature. Spotted hyenas will kill lions and lions will kill spotted hyenas. During the dry season, drought or famine, lions and hyenas are always at war with each other for territory.

It is interesting! The fight between hyenas and lions is tough. It often happens that hyenas attack defenseless cubs or old individuals, for which they are attacked in return.

In the struggle for food and supremacy, the victory goes to the group of animals whose numbers prevail. Also, spotted hyenas, like any other animal, can be exterminated by humans.

There is an opinion that friendly behavior can win a woman's heart much faster than a show of strength. The male hyena understands this better than any other animal: since it is the females who occupy the dominant position in the pack, it is they who will decide who they will be with - and they choose the very best.

And the male, who is at a lower hierarchical level, can only wait - some for months, and some for years. If you are lucky, and he can wait for the favor of the female, preferably the leader of the pack, then his status will also increase, and he will become a leader among his own kind.

Therefore, when a female hyena passes by, he respectfully gives way to her, lowering his head as a sign of humility and pressing his ears, and if he notices that she is annoyed, he will quickly move away.

Few animals cause such hostility in people as hyenas - neither their appearance nor their wild behavior while hunting for positive emotions set anyone up. For a long time they were considered one of the most mysterious and little-studied creatures of this world, and therefore the most incredible rumors circulated about them, which, oddly enough, even the most prudent people believed.

For example, the indigenous people of Africa, looking at the perseverance and enthusiasm with which these animals tore up graves, were convinced that hyenas are associated with evil spirits, and they themselves are werewolves. The Arabs, killing this animal, buried its head as deep as possible in the sand, so that it would not return and avenge its murder.

The ancient Greek philosopher Ovid believed (at the same time he substantiated his opinion so convincingly that he managed to convince many reasonable people) that an animal is a hermaphrodite and is able to change its gender. And his colleague Pliny claimed that the spotted hyena, imitating the sound of a human voice, lures adults and children out into the street, where it tears them apart.

Experiencing such mystical horror in relation to this wild animal, many agreed that medicines made from the internal organs of these creatures have miraculous powers: the liver healed the eyes, the cervical vertebra calmed the nervous system. But the brain was recognized as harmful: whoever ate it went crazy.

What amazing animals

Hyenas are representatives of the family of carnivorous mammals from the cat-like suborder. An interesting fact: if earlier these animals were considered relatives of dogs, then recently scientists came to the conclusion that such a classification is incorrect and added them to the cat and viverrid family.

The hyena family includes such species as the earthen wolf, striped, spotted and brown hyena. All these species live on the African continent, and the striped hyena also lives on the territory of Asia (mostly live in the steppes, semi-deserts and savannahs, and the brown one can be seen not far from the coast).

Appearance

Outwardly, hyenas look like terrible outbred dogs with a short, thick head and a pointed muzzle. The jaws of these animals are capable of creating the strongest pressure among all mammals - 70 kg / cm2 (they are the only predators in the world that can crush large bones of almost all animals with their teeth, with the exception of elephants). The hyena's legs are crooked and short, while the hind legs are much shorter than the front ones, which gives the impression that the animal is crouching.

The spotted, brown, and striped hyenas each have four fingers, while the earthwolf has one more. The claws of hyenas are long and blunt - this makes it possible for them to easily dig holes and dig up corpses.

The lightest representative of this species is the earth wolf (it weighs about ten kilograms), the largest is the spotted hyena, whose weight exceeds eighty kilograms. The spotted hyena is the owner of short hair, in other species it is coarse and long, while the hair in all types of hyenas on the neck and along the back forms a mane.

By color, hyenas differ from each other:

• The spotted hyena is covered with gray hair with brown spots;
• The striped hyena has a light gray coat with black stripes and a dark muzzle;
• The earthwolf and the brown hyena have a solid brown color.

A shaggy tail indicates the social status of the animal: if it is turned up, the animal is a leader, if it is lowered, it is an outsider. Each animal has its own unique smell - for people it smells disgusting, but in the life of hyenas it means the same thing as speech for a person.

Voice

The language of hyenas is very diverse and they communicate with each other using sounds - first of all, it is a world-famous cry, which is the laughter of hyenas, which gives the impression that the animal laughs extremely unpleasantly. In fact, these sounds are a mixture of howling, screaming, roaring and something like laughter.

Thus, these animals control the order of eating: the main female informs the whole world that she has finished eating, and therefore the next individual in the hierarchy can start eating - this helps pugnacious, warlike and dangerous animals maintain established relationships in the pack, and also avoid fights and conflicts.

Such a laugh is inherent only to the spotted hyena, but the brown hyena and the striped hyena do not make such a sound at all. They produce growls, screams, grunts and a rough, hoarse howl.

Lifestyle

Not all representatives of this family live in packs: the striped hyena and the earthen wolf prefer loneliness. But the spotted and brown hyenas form flocks of five individuals or more, while the flock of spotted hyenas is sometimes huge and consists of a hundred individuals.

There is a clear hierarchy among these animals - all lower individuals are completely subordinate to the higher ones (the position is determined primarily by the rank of the mother of small hyenas at their birth and it is extremely difficult to change it afterwards). Males always occupy a lower position, and the most experienced female is at the head.

Breeding offspring

For quite a long time, people believed that spotted hyenas were hermaphrodites, and were sure that they practice homosexual mating and give birth using a unique reproductive system.

In fact, male spotted hyenas are both born males and remain males, the same with females. True, it is rather difficult for people to distinguish representatives of this species from each other, since the genitals of females completely copy the genitals of males. And all because the clitoris of female hyenas of this species is quite large and often reaches 15 cm (at the same time, the higher the position in the pack the female occupies, the larger it is), and the labia form a sac-like fold, similar to the scrotum.

Since the female does not have a vagina, she not only mates, but also gives birth through the clitoris. Reproduction is quite complicated, since this process is painful and complex, childbirth, especially the first, often lasts for hours, because of which half of the puppies die from suffocation, and the female herself often dies (according to statistics, about 10% of mothers die during childbirth).

Animal babies

Interestingly, the female herself chooses her partner. This male is always of high rank, often from another clan, thus these animals avoid inbreeding. Pregnancy lasts about a hundred days, and few babies are born - from one to three.

The female hyena is a very caring mother: she equips the den in advance (mostly she digs a hole on her own or finds a suitable cave for this), and she takes care of the brood for up to two years, feeding them with milk for almost twenty months. Milk is so nutritious that, if necessary, a hyena cub can do without any other food for about a week.

Babies are born covered with uniform hair, fully sighted, with fangs and incisors - and almost immediately they begin to defend their place under the sun, rushing at their brother or sister in order to bite them. They often succeed, about a quarter of the kids die as soon as they come into this world. After some time, the passion for killing passes, and the surviving cubs learn to exist with each other.

Food

They say that there are no skeletons lying around in Africa - everything is eaten by hyenas, whose stomach is able to hold about fifteen kilograms of food at a time. All representatives of this family, with the exception of the earthen wolf, are omnivorous creatures: they are unpretentious in food and eat absolutely everything that is possible - mammals, birds, snakes, termites, fish, melon, watermelon. They have rightly earned a reputation as scavengers, capable of completely devouring a corpse.

It has recently been established that, in addition to everything else, they are also excellent hunters, and they eat carrion for lack of better food. Except for the brown hyena, which is the largest land creature, whose diet consists mainly of carrion, and the striped hyena, like the jackal, likes to pick up garbage.

The earthwolf feeds mainly on termites of a certain species, Trinervitermes, sometimes on other insects and their larvae, which it collects on the corpses of animals (primarily dead-eater beetles), as well as arachnids. During the night, he is quite capable of eating up to 300 thousand termites, while the animal does not destroy termite mounds, but patiently waits for the insects to come to the surface.

Thanks to these insects, this member of the hyena family is almost independent of water, since it receives fluid from their bodies. In addition to Trinervitermes, the earthwolf also feeds on other types of animal food - usually small rodents, birds and their eggs, sometimes plants.

But the spotted hyena is considered one of the most formidable predators in Africa, since representatives of this species combine great speed (more than 50 km / h), powerful jaws, skillful collective actions (usually hunt in pairs or even packs) and amazing audacity.

The spotted hyena eats its victims in a peculiar way, as, indeed, the rest of the members of this family. From the outside, it looks extremely disgusting and nauseating, because before the meal they don’t kill their victims, but despite her screams, they eat them alive (however, this way the prey dies faster than by strangulation).

Enemies

The worst enemy of hyenas in the natural world is the lion. Despite the fact that there is an opinion that hyenas are constantly chasing a lion in order to finish eating the remnants of prey behind him, in fact, everything is exactly the opposite, larger predators take prey from hyenas.

Of course, if only one lioness tries to do this, the flock is able to drive her away, but if there are a lot of lionesses, or we are talking about a male lion, they easily drive the whole clan away from legally driven prey, often killing hyenas and their babies. In turn, hyenas never feel sorry for an old, wounded or too young lion, and at the slightest opportunity, they settle scores with him with a cry.

The heroine of our today's article can hardly be called a charming animal. For many, the striped hyena causes unpleasant associations. This is due to both the appearance of the animal and the way it obtains food. But not everyone knows that the striped hyena is listed in the Red Book as an animal whose numbers are sharply declining.

In this article, we will tell you what hyenas really are, what features they have and how they differ from other fanged ones.

Distribution of the striped hyena

This is a bright representative of a small hyena family. The only species in the family that is found outside of Africa. Distributed in North Africa, Asia from the Mediterranean Sea to the Bay of Bengal. It is believed that the striped hyena in Asia is a competitor of the tiger in the struggle for the main resource - meat. It occurs in Central and North-Western India, to the south the population decreases and is practically absent in Ceylon, however, as in countries lying to the east.

In Africa, south of the Sahara, such a hyena is also found, but towards the south of the region, the number of animals is declining. It inhabits eastern and southern Turkey, Pakistan, Iran, Nepal, Afghanistan, the Arabian Peninsula, reaching Dzungaria and Tibet. The northern areas of its habitat are the Kopetdag Mountains (Turkmenistan) and the foothills of the Greater Caucasus. The striped hyena of the Caucasus in Russia is occasionally found only in the southern limits of Dagestan. However, she does not live there permanently, but only occasionally crosses the Terek from Azerbaijan.

External Features

The description of the striped hyena, which can be found in many publications for animal lovers, indicates that it is a large, long-haired animal with a shortened body, slightly curved and strong limbs. The hind legs are more powerful and shorter. The tail is shaggy and shortened. The coat is sparse, hard and coarse.

The head is massive and rather wide, the muzzle is slightly elongated, the ears are large, slightly pointed at the ends. Striped hyenas are the owners of the most powerful jaws among mammals - their pressure is up to fifty kilograms per square centimeter.

On the back of the hyena is a vertical, darker crest, which consists of bristly long hair. In case of danger, it rises on the mane and at the same time the predator seems to be much taller than its height.

Color

The striped hyena can have a different color: from gray to straw or from brown-gray to dirty yellow. Dark and sometimes black stripes are clearly visible on the head, legs and torso. Sometimes they are replaced by dark spots. The underside of the neck and throat are black. On the muzzle, the “mask” is almost black.

Dimensions and weight

The length of an adult from head to tail is on average one hundred and twenty centimeters. The tail is thirty-five centimeters long, about ninety centimeters tall, and weighs between twenty-five and forty-five kilograms. Interestingly, these animals practically do not differ in gender either in height or in length, however, males can be a little heavier. Under natural conditions, the striped hyena lives no more than 12 years, and in zoos - up to 25 years.

Voice

Vocal communication is practically undeveloped, as a rule, it consists of barely audible growls and a few more sounds that hyenas make during clashes with fellow tribesmen. The loudest sound made by this animal, which can be heard quite rarely, is a “clucking” howl. The predator makes the same sounds when it is excited.

Habitat

The striped hyena prefers clay deserts, but is often found in rocky foothills. It inhabits the most barren lands, often covered with thorny bushes. The hyena is found among rocky hills and gorges, as well as on open savannahs with dense herbage. He tries not to settle in deserts, he needs free access to water. The body of water must be within a radius of no more than ten kilometers.

Food

It is a scavenger by way of feeding. The diet of the animal consists of various carrion and food waste. It does not refuse to eat the corpses of both large and medium-sized mammals, such as gazelles, impalas, zebras. If the soft tissues have already been eaten by someone, the hyenas also gnaw the bones.

The striped hyena replenishes its diet with seeds, fruits, seeds, fish, insects, and occasionally kills small animals: rodents, hares, birds, reptiles. Researchers have identified fifteen species of mammals that may be prey for the striped hyena. Some individuals have learned to hunt domestic animals (goats, sheep, dogs). A large proportion of the remains of domestic animals and even human remains in the diet of these animals in some regions of the range proves the dependence of the hyena on the customs and lifestyle of the local population. For example, in the Middle East, tombstones, in addition to their traditional function, are an obstacle for hyenas: they do not allow them to dig up graves and eat the remains of people.

Striped hyena lifestyle

This animal is predominantly active at night. At night, the hyena travels around its site alone, although it prefers to relax in the company of several relatives. During the day, she hides in dense vegetation or in crevices among stones. It builds its burrows in dry waterholes, caves or settles in old burrows of badgers, porcupines and other animals.

The hyena moves completely silently, at a trot or step, and can go unnoticed even when living very close to a person. Its speed does not exceed eight kilometers per hour. To determine the direction of the search for food, the hyena does not use the direction of the wind, while it acutely feels the smell of carrion brought by its gusts. It is a fairly frequent guest at garbage dumps located around settlements, in gardens during mass fruiting.

The striped hyena is very cautious. She has excellent hearing and sense of smell: these animals can hear sounds that are inaccessible to the human ear. They pick up sounds from other predators at a great distance. Often they lead hyenas to prey, which can be at a considerable distance. In addition, striped hyenas are animals with an odor communication system. They have an odorous anal gland, with the secret of which they mark the boundaries of their territory. Interestingly, each animal has a unique smell.

social device

The striped hyena is considered to be a loner, since it obtains food individually. Recent studies have shown that often striped hyenas live in small groups led by a dominant female. These groups are characterized by a certain social organization. Young members of the family help to feed younger individuals, bringing prey to the den.

Although territorial relations are not characteristic of the behavior of the striped hyena, they nevertheless exist. Burrows, as a rule, are used for a short time and therefore practically do not protect them. Juveniles demonstrate their obedience to adults. Fights in a group are usually a ritual fight during which the hyenas try to grab each other by the cheek. The loser of the fight demonstrates submission by showing the anal gland.

The striped hyena quite often uses the prey of other animals. From large predators, for example, lions, it keeps at a respectful distance (about fifty meters). For unknown reasons, striped hyenas behave submissively towards Crocuta crocuta (spotted hyena) and allow it to take prey. Adult females are quite aggressive towards each other, and they are dominant to males.

• Immature individuals like to eat cultivated plants, including gourds.
• The name of the beast comes from the Greek word hus, which translates as "pig".
• Not the most attractive appearance and cowardly behavior of this animal gave rise to many legends and superstitions. The ancient Greeks believed that hyenas were able to change sex.
• If these scavengers settle near the cemetery, people are forced to put large stones on the graves, since hyenas can tear the ground to get to human remains.

The largest and strongest of modern hyenas - spotted - weighs from 50 to 90 kg. In these animals, the females are larger, more powerful and "more important" than the males, that is, they occupy a higher position in the packs. In the blood of female spotted hyenas, the content of the male hormone, testosterone, is very high, which affects behavior: it increases aggressiveness and increases physical strength.

Where and how do hyenas live?

Hyenas live in different areas in different ways. For example, in the Ngorongoro Crater (East Africa) and a number of other places rich in food, they gather in large flocks called clans. It includes from 10 to 100 animals.

Each clan has its own territory, which is actively marked by its members and protected from neighbors. Sometimes between neighboring clans there is a fierce struggle for it. These are real battles, in which the main forces of rival packs participate, fights lead to serious injuries and deaths of participants. Winners win additional space for themselves and mark it. Later, if the success is fixed, the winning pack can hunt in this zone.

On the plains of the Serengeti, spotted hyenas also have clans, but they do not unite all the hyenas of the area. A significant part of them follow the migratory herds of zebras, wildebeest and other antelopes and do not adhere to a specific territory. There are also so-called seasonal people who have their own sites and shelters, but periodically make long (up to 80 km) exits from them in search of prey.

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In South Africa, in the Kalahari Desert, spotted hyenas do not form permanent flocks at all and often hunt alone, although even there, when attacking large prey, they unite in groups of up to 20-25 animals.

What do hyenas eat?

Previously, it was believed that spotted hyenas mainly feed on carrion, often content with the remains of lion prey. Later studies by scientists have shown that this is not the case. Of course, hyenas love carrion and always pick it up if possible, but they themselves are excellent hunters. So, in Ngorongoro, these predators get more than 80% of the diet themselves, and they can hunt zebras, wildebeest, other types of antelopes, and even such large and strong animals as African buffaloes, beating young animals from the herd. A herd of hyena zebras is pursued by a flock that runs dispersed, surrounding the zebras in a crescent. If one of them fights off the joint, the hyenas pounce on it.

Hyena Endurance

Despite their apparent clumsiness, spotted hyenas can reach speeds of up to 64 km / h and have great strength and vitality. For example, African wildlife researcher Jane Lawick Goodall observed how a hyena chasing a zebra received a powerful blow to the head with a hoof, which threw her back and made her tumble in the air, but she instantly jumped to her feet and continued the chase.

hyena clan

The hyena clan is a formidable force. When there are a lot of them, they become very bold and decisive, even attacking groups of lions and taking their "legitimate" prey from them. True, this happens, as a rule, if there is no adult male or several males among the lions. It also happens the other way around, when lions take away an animal they recently caught from hyenas.

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With other predators of Africa, hyenas "understand" relatively easily. Even one hyena can take prey from a leopard, easily drive a cheetah away. Only a pack of hyena dogs is able to resist hyenas, and even then only with numerical superiority.

Striped and brown hyenas

Striped and brown hyenas belong to the same genus. Both of them are about the same size and weigh up to 50-60 kg. They are not so strong and feed mainly on carrion, small or weakened animals, not very large ungulates and their cubs. Oddly enough, but these predators and scavengers are also gourmets: they love fruits and vegetables (in particular, wild watermelons and melons growing in the Kalahari Desert, or cultivated melons and watermelons - with melons in Central Asia).

They live, as a rule, in pairs or small groups, looking for food mostly alone. During the day, hyenas rest in shelters that are arranged in grottoes, caves, porcupine burrows. They themselves perfectly mastered the "earthworks" and always equip their homes to their taste.

The striped hyena living in Turkmenistan and Tajikistan always has several so-called towns on the family plot, each of which consists of holes and other shelters. The family changes these towns, moving from one to another from time to time. The cubs are in the town in one of the holes. They, like all kids, love to play and do it sometimes in the daytime. True, they do not go far from their homes. Hyenas have amazingly flexible and agile necks.

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The struggle of farmers reduced the number of striped hyenas, the species is listed in the International Red Book. Viable populations currently exist in the Kalahari and Kruger National Park.

Like the striped, brown hyena, it is mainly a scavenger and "gatherer" of mainly small prey: insects, bird eggs, rodents, cubs of small antelopes. Brown hyenas hunt and forage alone. At the same time, the animal travels more than 30 km per night. The habitat of the brown hyena is large - 220-250 km 2. It contains shelters, trails and permanent latrines, which play an important role as information exchange points. Scent marking is of particular importance in the life of these predators, and they spend a lot of time on it.