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Hyenas are one of the few animals that cause people to feel hostility and disgust. Their appearance, as well as behavior during the hunt, does not cause positive feelings and emotions in anyone. For a long time they were considered mysterious and almost unexplored creatures, so people made the most ridiculous rumors about them in which (and this is strange) even people who differ in their sound mind believed.
What kind of animals are these?
Hyenas are mammals from the order of predators, belong to the suborder of cat-like. Scientists once referred them to canine relatives, but some time ago they came to the conclusion that such a classification is fundamentally wrong, and they decided to attribute it to cats.
In total in this family there are 4 species: striped hyena, brown, spotted and earthen wolf. The difference between them is insignificant - the difference is only in appearance and size, so the story will go on the example of a spotted hyena.
Appearance and description
The appearance of a hyena resembles a terrifying mongrel. Spotted hyenas have the largest sizes in their family. Their jaws are so strong that they can gnaw and crush the bone of absolutely any animal, even an elephant.
Hyenas are the only animals where females are not larger than males.
The body is from 125 to 165 centimeters long, the height at the withers is from 75 to 91 centimeters. Weight - from 60 to 82 kilograms. The paws are short and crooked, with the front legs much longer than the hind legs, so when you see the animal, it seems as if it constantly crouches while walking.
On the feet, 4 fingers with long blunt claws, with which they dig up bodies from the ground and tear holes. The head is large, the muzzle is slightly dull. The body is covered with short gray-sand wool, brown spots are scattered over its entire surface.
The tail is long - from 25 to 34 centimeters. By looking at it, one can understand what the animal has in the pack in social status: if it is raised up, it means that the animal leader is lowered to its paws - an outsider. Each of the hyenas smells of its own smell - a person considers it disgusting and unpleasant, for the animal it serves as a method of communication and communication.
Habitat
The main habitat is the savannah, in which it is possible to catch the animal as a food. They avoid only deserts and do not climb into dense forests.
Vote
Hyenas have a rather diverse language, communication takes place through sounds - in the first place, they laugh. Although there is not only laughter, there are also howls, growls and loud cries. In a similar manner, the animals establish the order of feeding: the dominant female informs others that she has stopped eating, and now another individual, standing lower in the hierarchical ladder, can eat. This method allows hyenas prone to squabbles and fights to avoid any conflicts.
And here the dominant role of the females is manifested: there will not be an immediate reaction to the exclamation made by the male — he will have to repeat the cry several times to be heard. The sounds made by the female, the clan members hear immediately and react instantly.
Lifestyle
Spotted hyenas are herd animals. They form a clan, in which there can be from a dozen to hundreds of individuals, for the most part female representatives. Among animals, strict matriarchy reigns - the female, even occupying a low step in the hierarchy, is located above any male. Apparently, this is due to the fact that in the blood of the females there is a lot of testosterone, which gives them great aggressiveness and helps increase physical strength. The dominant female becomes the head, having managed to stand out in strength and size. Other members meekly obey her.
The dominant female, together with the offspring, is the first to receive prey and have every right to choose the best places for recreation. Female children inherit the social rights of the mother. And the males grow up and move to another clan.
Each group has its own territory assigned to it. As boundaries, special marks are used - visual (for example, ground clawed with claws) and smell (smell coming from a sticky secret, which is designed specifically to mark territory). As a rule, these duties are also performed by females.
Reproduction of offspring
For a long time there was an opinion that this species of hyenas is hermaphrodite, and scientists had the confidence that they enter into homosexual contacts and childbirth occurs using a unique reproductive system.
In fact, that males, that females are born by whom, remain those. And it is difficult to distinguish them due to the fact that the female genitalia are the same as the male’s penis - they are very similar. The reason for the similarity is that the females have a very long clitoris, reaching 15 centimeters in length (and the larger it is, the higher the position in the group of the female), and with the help of the labia a fold resembling the scrotum is formed.
That is, it turns out that the female is completely devoid of the vagina and the process of mating and childbirth occurs through the clitoris. This process is complex, painful, and the female gives birth for hours (especially for the first time). Because of this, some puppies die from a lack of air, and the female has many chances to die.
Hyenas do not have a strictly defined time for mating games; they can mate at any time of the year. As a rule, in Central Africa the season comes during the rains, and closer to the north in the spring.
The female always takes the male from another clan as a partner, so that there are no crosses between relatives.
Males, using their sense of smell, find out that the female is ready to mate. They carefully sniff under the tail of the female, or catch the smell from the place where she was lying. Upon learning that the female is willing, the male approaches her and tilts her head, thereby showing that he is completely subordinate to her. As soon as consent is obtained, the mating process takes place.
The onset of pregnancy lasts approximately 100 days.
Before giving birth, the expectant mother searches for a cave in advance or tears a hole and gives birth there. Usually 1-3 cubs appear, but maybe even more. They are born already covered with wool, able to see with formed teeth. The weight of children is approximately 1.1 - 1.5 kilograms.
Mother feeds milk for a long time - up to one and a half years, and it is so rich in necessary elements and so nutritious that babies can eat nothing else for almost a week. Already in the fourth month of life, the weight of small hyenas reaches 15 kilograms.
If two females are among the cubs, then from the very first minutes they begin to compete with each other - one rushes at the other and tries to bite the opponent. Often, these attempts succeed - about 25 percent of the babies die, not having time to really know the joy of life. But the survivors get more milk and mother's attention.
After some time, the passion to kill their own kind passes, and the survivors learn to live side by side in one flock. Adult hyenas enter adulthood in the third year.
Nutrition
No wonder hyenas are famous as corpse eaters and scavengers. Their main food is the bodies of dead animals. They are not at all picky, so any meat that gets in the way (no matter - a living zebra or a rotten skeleton of an elephant) will be eaten. But often they themselves hunt, prey are small mammals such as antelopes, gazelles and zebras. Thanks to their excellent hearing and good eyesight, it is not difficult for them to track down the victim.
With pleasure they eat birds, snakes, lizards, eggs left unattended, do not disdain even the corpses of dead representatives of their own species.
Blood vessels are torn with teeth by a hyena caught in an animal, and then pieces of meat begin to be pulled out from a living animal. It is cruel, but in this way the animal dies faster than if it were choked. They eat the prey completely, even lick the grass and the ground on which the food lay.
They attack animals not very large one by one, and hunt larger animals in groups. Surround the crescent flock of antelopes or zebras and drive him. As soon as one of the ungulates lags behind the pack - it immediately turns into a victim.
Fact! A flock of hyenas are able to drive even a beast larger than themselves - a buffalo or a small elephant.
Thanks to the digestive system, animals are able to digest everything, down to the bones. Very acidic gastric juice does an excellent job of this. Food is digested only during the day.
Enemies
Benefit
Although many negative “labels” are hung on hyenas, the savannah territory benefits greatly from them: a large number of dead animals do not accumulate on the ground, which means that various diseases dangerous to others do not arise and do not spread.
Interesting Facts
- With hyenas and among African (and not only) peoples, traditions and beliefs are associated. For example, African locals saw how persistently these creatures tear fresh graves and believed that hyenas were werewolves possessed by evil spirits.
- And the Arabs, killing hyenas, pulled out a hole and tried to bury their heads as deep as possible, otherwise the animal would return and commit a terrible revenge.
- One of the philosophers living in ancient Greece believed that hyenas are hermaphrodites and can change sex. Another thought - they imitate human voices to lure people into the street and tear them into small pieces.
- Only the spotted hyena has such a laugh, other types of similar sounds do not emit. They growl, shout, grumble and howl in a hoarse, rude voice.
- Hyenas seem clumsy, but the speed is developing decent - more than 60 kilometers per hour.
- About ten percent of mothers die during childbirth.
- Although hyenas are called scavengers, they obtain up to 90 percent of their food by hunting on their own.
- In nature, a hyena lives a little more than 20 years. And in captivity, the life span is almost 2 times longer - it can reach up to 40 years.
Spotted hyenas do not belong to endangered species, but they are becoming less and less. Therefore, this species is listed in the Red Book.
Video: Spotted Hyena (Crocuta crocuta)
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