Learn

Hyenas look a lot like dogs but the eerie sounds, growls and giggles they make are unique to themselves. A spotted hyena has a blunt nose, rounded ears, long front legs and a sloping back.Their yellow-gray fur is covered in dark spots. Actually, they are not even part of the dog family!

For years people thought that hyenas were scavengers and that they only fed on dead animals that had been killed by other attackers. But now scientists have learned that spotted hyenas are, in fact, skillful and talented hunters. They usually hunt in packs of ten to thirty animals but as many as 80 can live together in a grouping called a clan.

Hyenas have a tremendously keen sense of eyesight and their hearing is sharp as well. These two developed senses enable the animal to track and hunt animals at night. The spotted hyena can run great distances without becoming tired. Because of this endurance, they usually catch the animals they are chasing. Their muscular bodies give them the ability to catch and secure their prey easily.

Hyenas are smart enough to know which is the best way to hunt and attack different animals. For example, when they attack wildebeests, one hyena from the pack will run and startle the heard. As the wildebeests scatter, the other hyenas will look for sick or slow-moving members of the herd and chase them down. When it hunts alone, hyenas look for smaller and easier prey like a gazelle or impala.

The famous laughing sound occurs after the pack has made its kill and begins to feed. These noises are the reason they are often called laughing hyenas. These sounds serve as a signal to other hyenas; theyknow that the hunting pack has food. Hyenas are able to eat almost all the parts of a dead animal. Their jaws and teeth are so powerful, that they can even crush large bones. Their stomach juices give them theability to digest the bones as well as the skin.

Clans are led by females. They hunt in their own territory. This territory is marked by scratching the ground and leaving waste. They also mark the grass with a strong, smelly scent that comes from glands under their tails.These scent marks warn other clans that this territory is taken. Sometimes groups of spotted hyenas will patrol theboundaries of their marked territory and chase away any hyenas from a different clan. The clan gathers at a den in the middle of the markedterrain. The den is made up of many burrows which are connected by a series of tunnels. When they gather, they greet one another bysniffing each other, much like dogs. This way, they can tell if they are from the same clan.

Hyenas are born in pairs in a shallow hole dug by the mother. This hole is a short distance from the den. When the twin cubs are about two weeks old, the mother brings them back to the den; all the cubs live together. After about four or five months, they will tag along with mom as she hunts.

There are two other types of hyenas, the striped and the brown. The striped hyenas usually don’t live in clans and can be found in Africaand Asia. The brown hyena is rare and is smaller than the spotted variety.