Spotted Hyena

 
Setswana Name:  Phiri
 
Scientific Name: 

Crocuta crocuta
 

Spotted hyenas are the largest of three hyena species. Brown and striped hyenas are the other two. Spotted hyenas live together in large groups called clans that may include up 80 individuals and are led by females.
 
The Hyena is a large animal with a sturdy build, high shoulders, and long muscular limbs. The hyena has a large head, broad, rounded ears. Coarse, short, bristly hair, brownish-gray in color, covers most of the hyena's body. A shaggy mane grows on the ridge of its neck. The animal appears to be humpbacked because its hind legs are shorter than its front legs. It has long, erect ears. Its powerful cheek muscles and teeth can crush the bones of an ox. The spotted hyena has the strongest jaws in the animal kingdom.

Spotted hyenas are quite vocal and make a wide variety of sounds, including the "laughing" that has long been associated with their name. To human ears, the laughs of individual hyenas in a pack all sound the same: high-pitched and staccato, eerie and maniacal. But every hyena makes a different call that encodes information about its age and status in the pack,

Spotted hyenas have good hearing and sharp eyesight at night. They are fast and can run for long distances without tiring. Packs work together effectively to isolate a herd animal, sometimes one that is ill or infirm, and pursue it to the death. The victors often squabble over the spoils, either among themselves or with other powerful animals like lions.

Female spotted hyenas are dominant over the males and outweigh them by about three pounds. It is difficult to distinguish between the sexes in the field because external female genitalia have a superficial similarity to those of the male. Why the female hyena developed in this manner is unknown, but it may have been necessary for them to appear large and strong to protect their young from males, as hyenas have cannibalistic tendencies.
 
Spotted hyenas are organized into territorial clans of related individuals. The center of clan activity is the den, where the cubs are raised and individuals meet. Hyenas mark and patrol their territories by depositing a strong-smelling substance produced by the anal glands on stalks of grass along the boundaries. "Latrines," places where members of a clan deposit their droppings, also mark territories. Hyenas are social animals that communicate with one another through specific calls, postures and signals.
 

Reproduction
Hyenas usually bear litters of two to four cubs, which, unlike the other two species, are born with their eyes open. Cubs begin to eat meat from kills near the den at about five months, but they are suckled for as long as twelve to eighteen months, an unusually long time for carnivores. This is probably a necessity, as most kills are made far from the den and hyenas, unlike jackals and hunting dogs, do not bring back food and regurgitate it for their young. At about one year, cubs begin to follow their mothers on their hunting and scavenging forays. Until then, they are left behind at the den with a babysitting adult

Habitat
Hyena habitat includes savannah, arid semi-desert, open woodlands, dense dry woodland, and rocky mountainous forests up to 4,000 m in altitude. The hyena is the most abundant large carnivore in areas where antelopes and zebras are found in masses.  Spotted Hyenas range throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
 
 
Food
Hyenas are cunning and resourceful. Although usually considered scavengers (they pick over kills made by large carnivores and frequent rubbish dumps), they also hunt and kill a variety of prey
Hyenas work together to fell their prey - they communicate through a series of yells and growls; their cries resemble human laughter. Hyenas have been known to attack livestock and humans. Male hyenas will sometimes eat cubs that have strayed from their den. Hyena consumes animals of various types and sizes, carrion, bones, vegetable matter and other animals' droppings. They also kill and eat birds, lizards, snakes, and insects.
The powerful jaws and digestive tract of the hyena allow it to process and obtain nutrients from skin and bones. The only parts of prey not fully digested are hair, horns and hooves; these are regurgitated in the form of pellets. The high mineral content of the bones hyenas consume make their droppings a highly visible, chalky white.

 
Hyenas have long conflicted with human populations. African legends and folklore associate the hyena with witchcraft and the supernatural. Like many predators, hyenas become targeted when they take livestock for prey.

In an increasingly overpopulated Africa, hyenas and humans come into frequent contact. These intelligent and bold animals will raid food stores and crops and are blamed for many livestock and even some human deaths. In some areas they have been heavily hunted as destructive pests.
 
Among the species that prey on hyenas are lions (who will attack them at every opportunity), hunting dogs and other hyenas.