Hyena
SWAHILI NAME: FisiPHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
Spotted Hyenas (also called Laughing Hyenas) are the largest of the hyenas. They have robust bodies with large heads, powerful jaws, and rounded ears. Their necks are maned, and their backs slope downwards to smaller hind quarters. One hundred eighty pounds is their maximum weight. Females are larger than males.
The colors of their coats vary but are usually brown, yellow or gray, with numerous dark spots. Sometimes the muzzle and hind legs are black and the foot-long tail has a black tuft.
Their external sex organs are so similar in appearance that they all appear to be males.
DISTRIBUTION:
Spotted Hyenas live in Africa south of the Sahara except in densely forested areas and at the southern tip of the continent. They prefer open grasslands and savannas.
BEHAVIOR:
Spotted Hyenas are highly adaptable. They are generally nocturnal, but are sometimes active during the day. They are both scavengers and fierce hunters as situations demand.
Rarely solitary, they usually live, hunt and eat in groups of as many as 50 individuals. They are noisy animals, capable of making a great variety of vocalizations. Blood-curdling laughter usually indicates a successful hunt.
Hyenas also communicate by body posture and by scent marking. Anal glands secrete substances which the animals deposit on grass stalks.
DIET:
Spotted hyenas will eat almost anything; they are efficient scavengers of carrion and fresh meat. They often follow migrating herds of large herbivores, feeding on carcasses if they are available, and on new-born babies.
When necessary, they hunt in packs, killing animals as large as zebras. Extremely strong jaws and teeth allow them to crack large bones. Bones and bone marrow form a considerable part of their diet.
REPRODUCTION and GROWTH:
During courtship and mating periods they gather in large packs which are quite noisy. One or two young (rarely three) are born after a 110 day gestation, in an underground burrow.
Babies are born with their eyes open and with canine and incisor teeth already cut. Nursing mothers often raise their young in communal nurseries. The young nurse for about 18 months, and are sexually mature at two or three years of age. Spotted hyenas have lived as long as 40 years in captivity, and 25 years in the wild.
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