Brown Hyena

 
Setswana Name:  Phiri
 
Scientific Name: 

 
 
Brown Hyenas are smaller than spotted Hyenas. There is little difference in size between the Brown Hyena male and female. Brown Hyenas are distinct with strong and long front legs and the back slopping down to fairly weak hind legs. They have long, shaggy coats with coarse hair up to 25cm long. The coats are brown or black apart from around the neck and shoulders which is white. Their undersides are a lighter colour and they have white stripes on their front and back feet and legs. Their ears are long and pointed.

Brown Hyena are fairly solitary animals and are mainly active at night. They have an excellent sense of smell which assists them in finding carrion. They have very powerful jaws and large strong teeth for crunching through bone. 
 
Brown Hyena are very vocal animals, like the Spotted Hyena, but unlike Spotted Hyena, Brown Hyena do not have the distinctive laughing call.  Brown Hyenas calls are often heard at dusk.  When squabbling with each other over food, Brown Hyena will growl, snarl, yowl and whine at each other. 
 
Brown Hyena live in clans, in which most of the members are related.  These clans are far smaller than those of the spotted Hyena - typically up to around 10 individuals.  The social meeting point for the clan is the den.  When not at the den, the brown Hyenas are generally solitary. 
 
The clan has a home range which is marked by the members of the clan who use anal scent glands to rub a paste onto anything suitable such as a small bush.  The Brown Hyena leaves two different pastes as a scent mark - one white paste which gradually turns brown as it ages, and a black one.  Latrine sites are also used to mark territory.  Clan home ranges can overlap.  The size of the home range is largely dependant on the availability of food but other factors are involved.
 
  
Reproduction
Brown Hyenas are sexually mature by three years of age.  Typically only one female in a clan has a litter at a time.  Brown Hyena has a gestation period of approximately 97 days. They give birth to between one and four young (with three being the usual litter size) and although it is normally the dominant female that breeds, other females (usually her daughters) can give birth and use the same den.  The young are kept in a communal den with a narrow entrance to try and prevent predators such as jackals attacking the cubs while the adults are away searching for food.  Cubs are not fully weaned until they are around fifteen months old, but they do begin eating meat at around twelve weeks of age.  All clan members supplement the diet of the cubs by carrying food back to the den for them.  The members of the clan spend a lot of time at the den playing with the cubs, which helps them learn social behaviour.
 
Habitat
Brown Hyenas can be found in the drier areas and savannahs all over southern Africa. They are spread throughout their preferred habitat in Namibia, South Africa and Botswana and Angola.
They can survive with very little water and so inhabit areas with less than 100mm of annual rainfall. They will also inhabit woodland savannah with a maximum of 650mm annual rainfall. They regularly use rocky areas for shelter and dens.
Brown Hyenas are found in the Southern African region.  They are found in Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Namibia. 
 
Food
Brown Hyena are well adapted to live in arid regions where there are few herbivores.  They have very keen senses, they are able to detect a carcass from considerable distances, and are able to run at high speeds for long distances to get to the carcass before other scavengers. As well as scavenging off carcasses, they will also eat fruit, insects (e.g. locusts, harvester termites and dung beetles), eggs (e.g. ostrich eggs), and will prey on small animals such as rodents, lizards and poultry.  The scavenging off carcasses can bring them in to conflict with farmers as they feed off dead livestock though rarely are they responsible for killing it. 
When they come across an ostrich nest containing eggs the brown hyena is able to bite the eggs open even though it has slightly less powerful jaws than the spotted hyena which has to kick an egg till it hits one of the other eggs hard enough to break it open so it can consume the egg.
 
Most of the Brown Hyenas food comes from foraging or scavenging rather than killing. Unlike Spotted Hyena, Brown Hyena will rarely drive other predators from a kill.  Brown Hyena generally hunt for food by themselves, and cover large distances, travelling up to 40km in a single night.  Brown Hyena are nocturnal and are active for up to 80% of the night.
 
Makgadikgadi Brown Hyena Research Botswana
 
This research study aims to investigate the feeding behavior and movement of brown hyena populations living in close proximity to cattle post communities in the Makgadikgadi region of Northern Botswana. Particular emphasis will be placed on studying the ecological interactions between brown hyenas and humans living in the area. The level of conflict between the two species will be quantified and ideas for conflict resolution proposed. Data on brown hyena diet and movement in relation to food provided by human activities will be collected and analyzed. The brown hyena as reliance on food obtained from village areas in the form of domestic livestock will be determined. All data collected will be used to reduce the level of conflict present between brown hyena and humans by a process of information provision and education.
 
The study will also produce a reliable estimate of the number of brown hyenas in the area. No studies have been conducted on brown hyenas in the Makgadikgadi as yet and nothing is known of their existence, behavior or ecology. Due to the uniqueness of the Makgadikgadi region, existing literature on brown hyena ecology and behavior in other areas cannot be translated to the Makgadikgadi. Brown hyenas are presently classed as near endangered and vulnerable, with a minimum approximate population of between 5000-8000 individuals. For the above reasons this study is highly conservation based. The larger aims of the study will be to promote the conservation of brown hyenas in the Makgadikgadi and in other areas of Southern Africa where conflict exists between brown hyena and human populations.
 
 

Hyena brunnea