Hyena

The spotted hyena or hyaena, scientifically Crocuta crocuta, has a pale yellowish body with darker spots that fade with age.

Hyenas live in open savanna, liking it where there are some clumps of trees as on riverbanks. There will usually be water nearby, as well as flocks of middle-sized antelopes.

Hunting alone or in groups, their method is charging into a flock, identifying easy prey from the scattering. Snapping at the slowest one’s legs while running alongside or tearing flesh from it until it tires, is the hard work feeding method. There is, of course, always carrion.

Blue wildebeest, zebra or impala are typical choices, while rhino and elephant calves are not off-limits, as long as the parents can be tricked. The bigger the prey, the bigger the hunting party. Sharing the spoils of other hunters, eating leftovers or carrion all contribute to filling their carnivore stomachs.

Keen senses of hearing and smell tell them of food sources, carrion smelt more easily as it ripens. Eating is a hurried and noisy event, competition adding motivation. Hyenas won’t bite each other at “table” but will gulp down as much as possible as fast as possible to maximise the personal share.

Because mealtimes are uncertain, a hyena will eat up to a third of its body mass at a time, i.e. up to 18 kg. This internal storage system allows the animal to stay sated for five days. Twenty hyenas can devour a 100 kg wildebeest carcass in 13 minutes. One may even carry a severed part away to cache and eat again later.

The Hyena digests more than meat: skin, bone, horns, hooves and even teeth can all be partly dealt with, although a hairball with bone fragments is regurgitated from time to time. Hyena jaws bite through a big mammal’s thighbone. After a good family meal, only the bloodstain is left as evidence of the catch (Riëtte, 2016).