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Hyenas or hyaenas (/ h aɪ ˈ iː n ə z / hi-EE-nəz; from Ancient Greek ὕαινα, hýaina) [1] are feliform carnivoran mammals belonging to the family Hyaenidae (/ h aɪ ˈ ɛ n ɪ d iː /). With just four extant species (each in its own genus), it is the fifth-smallest family in the order Carnivora and one of the smallest in ...
Jul 13, 2024 · Learn about hyenas, the doglike mammals that scavenge and hunt in Africa and Asia. Find out their characteristics, behavior, adaptations, and threats.
- They are adept hunters. One of the longest standing false accusations against the spotted hyena is that they are purely scavengers. Particularly that they steal most of their food from lions.
- They are great mothers. When thinking of nature’s great mothers, a gorilla nestling her young baby in her arms or a cat nursing her kittens may come to mind; usually not a spotted hyena.
- They are amazingly intelligent. Often cast as being foolish and dull, perhaps due to the misunderstanding of their laugh or giggle vocalization, spotted hyenas show shocking signs of intelligence that rivals most wild animals in Africa.
- They can count. Studies have shown that spotted hyenas can determine the number of other hyenas in a rival clan and decide their best course of action.
- Hyena Profile
- Interesting Hyena Facts
- Hyena Fact-File Summary
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A hyenais a prehistoric predator that has outlasted some of the most iconic monsters of the palaeolithic, survived the ice age, and was chasing humans out of caves for tens of thousands of years. It has some of the most powerful jaws in the animal kingdom and most of what we know about certain populations of early hominids come from bone fragments ...
1. There are dog-like and cat-like hyenas
A really long time ago, hyenas split into two groups. One branch evolved to be like dogs, and the other grew to look a bit more like cats, at least in the formation of their jaw. Cats and hyenas both have reduced dentition, so their skulls can be hard to tell apart, at least when they’re not connected to the rest of the hyena. Almost all of the dog-like hyenas went extinct when real dogs arrived and took up all the niches. That’s why, out of the 4 species of hyena around today, only one repre...
2. They’re bone crushers
As we mentioned, the dog-like hyenas went one way, and the cat-like hyenas another. The latter developed a useful survival tactic that may have helped them survive: they evolved to crush and eat bone. The spotted hyena has a bite force of 1,100 psi, which is more powerful than lions and tigers. Along with an immense bite force, the cat-like hyenas adapted their stomach acid and gut flora to digest almost everything in an animal carcass. That allowed them to eat long-dead meat, leftover from o...
3. There was once a 200kg hyena that could crush elephant bones
One of these hyenas was an absolute monster. Pachycrocuta brevirostris, a giant hyena, and the largest bone-crusher ever known, evolved alongside early humans, and competed for the same food source. This now-extinct member of the hyena family was heavy and slow, more cumbersome than its modern relatives, and is thought to have been a pure scavenger. 2
Scientific Classification
1. Riley Black (2019), “Prehistoric Hyena’s Teeth Show Bone-Crushing Carnivore Roamed the Arctic“, Smithsonian Mag. 2. Riley Black (2017), “In the Shadow of the Greatest Hyena“, Scientific American. 3. Sarah Zhang (2012), “Hyenas Change Their Diet During Lent, According to a Poop Analysis“, Discover Mag. 4. Lorena Lyon (2019), “Hyenas Probably Have More Friends Than You: Spotted hyena social hierarchies“, Havard. 5. Nicolas Mathevon (2010), “What the hyena’s laugh tells: Sex, age, dominance a...
Learn about the four species of hyenas, their evolution, their adaptations, and their behavior. Discover how hyenas are related to cats, how they crush bones, and why their poo is white.
- Savannah, woodland, scrub, bush
- Africa, Middle East, Asia
- 12 years in captivity
- Below 1m (3.3ft) tall, 1.7m (5.6ft) long
May 29, 2019 · Learn how hyenas are complex creatures that defy stereotypes and challenge our understanding of biology, gender and social structure. Discover their unique features, behaviors and adaptations, from their gender-bending genitals to their matriarchal clans.
Learn about the four species of hyenas, their distinctive features, social structure, and dietary habits. Find out how hyenas communicate, cooperate, and interact with humans and other predators.
Learn about hyenas, Africa's most common large carnivores, and their challenges, solutions, behaviors, and habitats. Find out how AWF works to protect hyenas and their ecosystems from human-wildlife conflict and poaching.
