Spotted Hyena

Crocuta crocuta

Click on one of the hyenas to hear how the "laughing hyena" got it's nick name! There are two different wav. files available!

The Spotted hyena is a great predator, that lives on the African savannah. It is also called "The Laughing" hyena because of its "laughing" sound when it's trying to steal it others food or is angry. The Spotted hyena has a muscular body and a sloping profile. It is the biggest kind of hyena, and isn't afraid even of the big cats, such as lions and cheetahs.

Habits

Spotted hyenas lives in packs, or clans, with 12-100 members. The female is bigger than the male and leads the clan. The Spotted hyenas have to help each other while hunting and so on, to have a good chance on surviving. It can eat a lot of different food, but preferrs carrions or hunt its own food. The Spotted hyenas uses a lot of body language to see who's the leader. The can also be aggressive and fight until one gets hurt, or even dies, especially if it's mating season. The Spotted hyenas, and other hyenas as well, are often thought to be dangerous, bloodthirsty, evil.... This isn't true! In African religions, the hyena has been what the black cats are to us, about having good and bad luck!

A nice side-view of the hyenas head!

Family life and breeding

During the mating season, the male tries to come close to the female, but another dominate male will chase him away. It is only the male with the highest rank that will breed with the female. After a long pregnancy, the female give birth to 2-3 cubs in a den with many tunnels and entrances, that she shares with other females. She takes care of her youngs by herself and will chase away all males, since they can hurt, or even kill the young hyenas. The cubs can go and run not long after their birth, they have all their teeth and they can see. But they still need their mother to get food, and she teach them everything they need to know about surviving. The cubs are big enough to leave their mother when they are 18 months old, and then they'll join the rest of the clan.

A mother hyena taking care of its youngling

Food & Hunting

The Spotted hyena preferrs to hunt on the night. It can eat carcass, or hunt alone. But its easier if the hyena hunts in a pack. They can run after and catch a wildebeast or a zebra, even though these can run in 40 km/h! The Hyena bite their prey in the legs, forcing it to lay down. Then the bite it in the nose, giving it a shock so it won't feel any pain! After that, they bite their prey in the stomach, until it dies. This procedure takes about ten minutes, so you can probably understand how good hunters these creatures really are! The scary growls and roars that the hyenas make during the hunt makes lions and other big cats interested, and they often try to steal the hyenas prey, but usually they can't. Sometimes even the hyenas scares away the lions from their own preys! The Spotted hyena eat almost everything on a carcass, and it dig down the rests.

This spotted hyena has found some food... The upper jaw of a warthog!

Did you know this about the Spotted Hyena?

• The hyena vomit the parts of an animal that they can't eat, such as bones and hornes.
• One single hyena can chase and kill an animal that weighs three times as much as itself!
• The hyena howls with its nose pointing to the ground, unlike wolves and coyotes, that howl with their noses pointing to the sky!
• The female and male hyenas sexual organs looks very much alike, so scientists long though that hyenas was *both* male and female!

More Facts about the Brown Hyena:

Size:

Body lenght: 120 - 165 cm

Tail lenght: about 25 - 33 cm

Height: 80 - 90 cm

Weight: 60 - 80 kg (ca 30 - 40 pounds)

Breeding:

sexually mature: 18 months

pregnant in: 99 - 110 days

Number of cubs: 2 - 3, usually 2

Lifestyle:

Habits: Lives mostly in clans

Food: Big animals such as zebras and antilopes, but also carrions.

Life lenght: Up to 25 yeas. Up to 40 years (!) in captivity.

Sounds like: howles, and "laugh". Some sounds can't be heared by humans.

closely related relatives:

There are 3 more species of hyena; the Brown hyena (Hyaena Brunnea), Aardwolf (Proteles Cristatus) and Striped hyena (Hyaena Hyaena).

Occrurrence:

Africa, south of Sahara, except for South Africa and Kongo. Preferrs savannah-like, open areas but can be found in other environments too. Does currentlly not need to be protected, since they can survive in so many different environments and eat different kinds of food.

How to recognize a Spotted Hyena:

Head: Big and strong jaws. The ears are a little bit round, like teddy ears!

Fur colour: Golden brown, with black nose, feet and tail. The stomach is yellow-white. As the name says, the spotted hyenas is spotted! It has small, dark spots all over its body!

Front legs: Longer than the rear legs, giving the hyena a sloping profile.

Laugh-like sound: Can't miss this one! A angry "spotty" sounds a lot, and it sound like a nervous person laughing! This is a very special sound, and can be heared kilometres away!

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