Why do hyenas have a bad reputation? Myths and facts. Entertainment is not for the faint of heart. Feeding hyenas in Harare Hyena meat
What can a meeting with a flock of hyenas in the African savanna promise? Animals they are not the most pleasant, so no good. And if this happens also at night, but with hungry hyenas ...
One eccentric old man in Harare made it an entertainment not for the faint of heart. Every day, a few hours after sunset, he goes to the outskirts of the city directly to meet with flocks of hungry hyenas with a basket of rotten meat and feeds them. First, with a stick on an outstretched hand, then just with a hand, and in the end, he becomes completely bolder and offers pieces of meat from his mouth. The same is sometimes repeated by brave spectators-tourists and even local residents, who also often come to see this "show"!
To see how he feeds the hyenas, you do not need to buy a tour or book a seat in the row of spectators. It is enough just to come to the feeding place, take pictures, watch or even take part yourself, and then at the end give the old man money for a new portion of meat ...
Arriving in Harar, we could not miss such an unusual "entertainment". On the very first evening, having found out where and what time the feeding takes place, we took a tuk-tuk and went to a night meeting with hyenas ...
2. How and when this old man came up with the idea to feed hyenas under the watchful and enthusiastic gaze of tourists, no one knows, but rumors about this fun gradually spread over the Internet and now some even specially go to Harar in order to see the feeding of hyenas with their own eyes.
If you also have such a desire, remember where and what time to find this place.
Both the old man and the hyenas come to their feeding place around 8 pm, when it gets very dark. Finding it on your own is not very easy, not knowing the city, but it is possible. If you are staying in a new city, you need to completely cross the old one, go out of it through the gate at the end of the market and turn off the cobblestone pavement onto the dirt road that branches off the main road to the right. Further, without turning, drive about a kilometer towards the savannah and the road will lead you straight to a place dimly lit either by the headlights of a car with tourists or by an old man's lantern. But it’s better not to tempt fate on a completely dark road, but to take a tuk-tuk, immediately check if the driver knows the hyena feeding place and pay him 100 birr for the round trip, as well as waiting until everything is over.
3. We just got to the very beginning, besides us there was another jeep with three foreigners who just arrived in Harar specifically for this "show".
At first, everything is quite boring. The old man squats down in the light of headlights or a lantern, puts a basket of meat in front of him, and begins calling the hyenas with cries known to him alone.
4. True, there is no special need to call them, the flock is already accustomed to easy prey and every evening is waiting for him in this place, burning with hungry eyes from the darkness. At first, they are hesitant to come close, checking the situation around, and then they gradually become bolder and come closer...
The old man hooks the meat with a small twig and throws the meat a little to the side so that the animals get bolder and come closer
5. Some, especially brave ones, do not hesitate to remove meat directly from the rod in the hands of an old man.
6. Seeing this, their relatives grow bolder and stronger. In general, it is amazing how, after many months of daily feeding here, they still do not trust and each time behave as if for the first time.
7. Old man's younger helper runs the risk of giving meat from his hand
8. Taking another shot, I suddenly heard breathing at my side ... The hyena carefully examined me, creeping up from the side. It became somehow uncomfortable. She could not stand a direct look, immediately moving her eyes to the side. But what kind of thoughts were in her brain, it is not known ...
9. Out of the darkness, her other kindred approached. It's time to go back to the spot of light, it's safe there. By the way, as soon as one of the tourists blocked the headlights of the jeep, the old man's assistant immediately asked not to do this. Apparently not without reason...
10. The old man is getting bolder, the hyenas too. At some point, one of them approached him from behind and placed its front paws on his shoulders, pulling a piece of meat from the rod from behind his head.
11. Confrontation of two forces. Man subjugating nature...
12. ... and nature, still beyond the control of man
13. I look at hyenas ... no matter what anyone says, they are still quite unpleasant animals
14. Photos, of course, do not convey the sounds with which these animals ate and figured out who to take the next piece of meat, but in the video at the end of the post you can see everything well
16. The first tourist dares to take a seat next to the old man. The hyena is grimacing...
17. But he doesn’t refuse meat ...
18. And then the "show" with hyenas jumping on their backs. The old man deliberately turns his back to them and lifts the meat on a twig over his shoulder. It is not known who is more afraid, the hyena or himself...
It looks like a hyena. She does it very timidly. But you can be sure that in the desert, in the dark, a flock of hyenas will not be afraid of you in the slightest.
19. One of the tourists also becomes bolder and "gives" his back to the hyena. The old man is in control. If suddenly there is an excess, he will lose his earnings, and, what good, will thunder in prison.
20. The whole "performance" lasts about 15 minutes. The old man gives the last pieces of meat to the hyenas very reluctantly, teasing them. After all, tourists only by this moment are bolder and want to try to take at least some photo of themselves against the backdrop of hyenas.
22. The old man throws the last pieces of meat on the sand, leaving the field of feast ...
Well, as a good example of how everything happens and how hyenas fight for a piece of meat with a scream, in a one-minute video...
Travel partner - airticket search service
Hyenas have a very bad reputation. According to the prevailing opinion, the hyena is cowardly, insidious, clumsy, eats carrion and leftovers, and does not differ in appearance.
As for appearance, of course, if you rely on human criteria for beauty, you can say that hyenas are not particularly beautiful. But if we keep in mind expediency, then, you see, the hyena is unusually perfect. She is the only one of all animals capable of crushing the bones of all kinds of animals with her strong jaws and teeth, except for elephants. The powerful muscles of the forelimbs and chest allow the hyena to carry very heavy prey over long distances. She is not at all as clumsy as she might seem. It is capable of chasing a wildebeest, zebra or gazelle for a distance of five kilometers at a speed of 65 kilometers per hour, which exceeds the capabilities of lions or leopards. The digestive organs of hyenas are among the most advanced among all predators, which allows them to eat carrion, as well as everything that moves, from termites, snakes and fish to buffaloes. And it would be unfair not to love hyenas because they eat carrion, because, along with vultures, they play the role of orderlies and prevent the occurrence and spread of dangerous diseases.
But even more unfair for hyenas are allegations that they are hangers-on and eat the remains of food taken by a lion or leopard. Many, probably, will be surprised by the fact that most of all food, that is, up to 93%, is obtained by hyenas by hunting.
Dr. Hans Kruk, while conducting a study of the life of hyenas in the Serengati People's Park and in the Ngorongoro Crater, found out that lions very often take prey from hyenas. This somehow does not fit with the generally accepted opinion that hyenas eat up the meat of animals killed by lions. It turns out that from the prey eaten jointly by lions and hyenas, 84% of the food was obtained by hyenas, 6% by lions, while the origin of the remaining 10% of prey has not been accurately established. So who then can be called a hanger-on: a hyena or a lion?
By the way, many, judging by the appearance of hyenas, believe that they are close in the zoological system to dogs, while in fact hyenas are rather closer to cats.
And a few more words in defense of the moral image of hyenas: the family life of hyenas with care for the babies of Obraztsov is exemplary.
"Encyclopedia of our delusions"
FACTS AND MYTHS ABOUT HYENAS
For a long time no one could find a kind word for hyenas. They are treacherous and cowardly; they greedily torment carrion, laugh like demons, and they also know how to change sex, becoming either females or males.
Ernest Hemingway, who traveled a lot in Africa and was well versed in the habits of animals, knew about hyenas only that they are "hermaphrodites that defile the dead."
From ancient times to the present day, the same chilling stories have been told about hyenas. They were copied from book to book, but no one bothered to check them. Hyenas have not really interested anyone for a long time.
Only in 1984, at the University of Berkeley (California), a center for the study of individuals was opened. Now there lives a colony of forty spotted hyenas(Crocuta crocuta), - the most misunderstood animals in the world.
Who eats a lion for dinner?
Indeed, spotted hyenas are very different from other predatory animals. For example, only in hyenas, females are larger and more massive than males. Their constitution determines the life of the pack: matriarchy reigns here. In this feminist world, it makes no sense for males to bicker, life partners are much stronger and angrier than them, but you can’t call them insidious at the same time.
“Hyenas are the most caring mothers among predators,” says Professor Stephen Glickman, who initiated the study of hyenas at Berkeley.
Unlike lionesses, hyenas drive males away from their prey, allowing only babies to approach it at first. In addition, these quivering mothers feed their cubs with milk for almost 20 months.
Many myths will be dispelled by impartial observation of hyenas. Have the Death Eaters fallen? Just not enterprising hunters, driving large prey with the whole flock. They eat carrion only when they are hungry.
Cowardly? Among predators, only hyenas are ready to fight back the "king of beasts". With devilish laughter, they attack the lions if they are going to take their prey from them, for example, a defeated zebra, which the pack did not get easily.
Hyenas themselves attack old lions, finishing with them in a matter of minutes. A coward dares to attack only a hare.
As for their hermaphrodism, this is one of the most common ridiculous myths. Hyenas are bisexual, although it is really difficult to determine their gender. This is due to the fact that the genitals of females outwardly almost do not differ from male ones. Their labia form a sac-like fold resembling a scrotum, the clitoris is similar in size to the penis, only by examining its structure, one can understand that this is a female organ.
Why are hyenas so unusual? At first, Glickman and his colleagues suggested that the blood of females is very high in testosterone, a male sex hormone that helps form muscle and hair in males, and also encourages them to aggressive behavior. However, with this hormone in hyenas, everything was normal. But in pregnant females, its content suddenly increased.
The reason for the unusual structure of the hyena (the size of females and morphological and sexual similarity with males) turned out to be a hormone called androstenedione, which, under the influence of an enzyme, is able to turn into a female hormone - estrogen - or testosterone, a male hormone.
As Glickman found, in pregnant hyenas, androstenedione, penetrating the placenta, is converted into testosterone. In all other mammals, including humans, on the contrary, in estrogen.
A special enzyme stimulates the appearance of estrogen, which is not very active in the body of hyenas. Thus, so much testosterone is produced in the placenta that the fetus is formed with pronounced masculine (male) characteristics, regardless of gender.
bloodthirsty kids
Because of their strange anatomy, childbirth in hyenas is very difficult and often ends in the death of the cubs. At the University of Berkeley, out of every seven cubs, only three survive; the rest die from lack of oxygen. In the wild, the mother herself often does not survive. Female hyenas most often die because lions attack them during childbirth.
striped hyena
Two, and sometimes more babies are born, weighing up to two kilograms. The appearance of the crumbs is charming: button eyes and black fluffy fur. But more furious little ones are hard to imagine. A few minutes after their birth, tiny hyenas are already rushing at each other, trying to kill their brothers.
“These are the only mammals that are born with sharp fangs and incisors,” notes Glickman. “In addition, unlike cats, hyenas are born sighted - and immediately see only enemies around them.”
They bite, dodge, gnaw and tear each other's backs. Their contractions are not at all like the hustle and bustle of kittens trying to get to their mother's nipples first. Hyena cubs want to be not the first, but the only ones, and the struggle between them is not for life, but for death. About a quarter of the cubs die as soon as they are born.
But the passion for murderous fights gradually disappears from them. In the first weeks of life, the content of testosterone in the blood of young animals is steadily declining. The survivors of these feuds reconcile with each other. It is curious that all their lives female hyenas behave more aggressively than males. Why did nature turn these spotted beauties into some kind of "superman"?
Lawrence Frank proposed a hypothesis. Throughout their history - and it has 25 million years - hyenas have learned to eat prey together - the whole flock. For kids, such a division of carcasses is discrimination. While the adults, pushing them back, tormented the meat, the little hyenas were left with only leftovers, mostly gnawed bones.
From such a meager diet, they starved and soon died. Nature favored those females who, rushing to other hyenas, cleared a place near the prey for their babies. The more aggressive the hyena behaved, the more chances her offspring had to survive. Warlike hyena cubs could eat meat along with adults.
The ancient world of hyenas
In ancient times, two types of hyenas were known: striped and spotted, and the first, an inhabitant of North Africa and Western Asia, was, of course, more familiar to people than the spotted one living south of the Sahara. However, ancient writers did not distinguish between types of hyenas. So, Aristotle, as well as Arnobius and Cassius Felix, Latin writers, natives of Africa, mention the hyena without touching on its species differences.
Since ancient times, people have been amazed by the dexterity and perseverance with which hyenas tore up graves, so they were afraid of them, like evil demons. They were considered werewolves. A hyena seen in a dream meant a witch. In various parts of Africa, it was believed that sorcerers turn into hyenas at night. Until recently, the Arabs buried the head of a killed hyena, fearing it.
In Egypt, hyenas were hated and persecuted. This "devourer of carrion" to the depths of her soul insulted the inhabitants of the Nile valley, who were accustomed to honor the bodies of the dead. On the Theban frescoes, you can see scenes of hunting with dogs for animals that lived in the wastewater treatment deserts: gazelles, hares, hyenas.
The Talmud described the outflow of an evil spirit from a hyena as follows: “When the male hyena is seven years old, he takes on the form of a bat; after another seven years, it turns into another bat called arpad; after another seven years, it sprouts nettles; after another seven years, thorns, and, finally, an evil spirit emerges from it.
One of the church fathers, Jerome, who lived for a long time in Palestine, writes about it with obvious hostility, recalling how hyenas and jackals scurry in hordes on the ruins of ancient cities, instilling fear in the souls of random travelers.
Since time immemorial, many different legends have been composed about hyenas. As already mentioned, they were credited with hermaphrodism and the ability to change their gender. It was said with a shudder that the hyena, imitating the voice of a person, lures children out and then tears them apart. It was said that the hyena exterminates dogs. The Libyans put prickly collars on dogs to protect them from hyenas.
In Africa, the hyena can be a common pet like a dog
Pliny wrote that the hyena looks like a cross between a dog and a wolf and will gnaw through any object with its teeth, and immediately digest the swallowed food in the womb. In addition, Pliny cited an extensive one - a whole page! - a list of potions that can be prepared from the skin, liver, brain and other organs of the hyena. So, the liver helped with eye diseases. Galen, Caelius, Oribasius, Alexander of Trallsky, Theodore Prisk also wrote about this.
Hyena skin has long been credited with magical properties. Going to sow, the peasants often wrapped a basket of seeds with a piece of this skin. It was believed that this protects the crop from hail.
“At the full moon, the hyena turns its back to the light, so that its shadow falls on the dogs. Bewitched by the shadow, they become numb, unable to utter a sound; the hyenas carry them off and devour them.”
The special dislike of hyenas for dogs was noted by Aristotle and Pliny. Many authors also assured that any person, whether a child, a woman or a man, easily becomes the prey of a hyena if she manages to catch him sleeping.
The spotted hyena is a predatory mammal of the hyena family. This is the most common member of the Crocuta species. They are also known as the laughing orderlies of the African expanses.
Description of the spotted hyena
These representatives of the fauna are famous for their bad temper.. "In the people" they are considered aggressive, cowardly animals that feed on carrion. Is it deserved A traveler with a lack of experience in Africa faces many dangers. The spotted hyena is one of them. They often attack in packs at night. Therefore, woe to that guest who did not make a fire and did not stock up on firewood for the whole night.
It is interesting! Studies show that the social intelligence of the spotted hyena is on par with some primate species. Their mental development is one step higher than other predators, due to the structure of the frontal cortex of the brain.
It is believed that the ancestors of the spotted hyena budded from the true hyena (striped or brown) during the Pliocene era, 5.332 million-1.806 million years ago. The spotted ancestors of hyenas, with developed social behavior, increased pressure from rivals forced them to “learn” to work in a team. They began to occupy larger territories. This is also due to the fact that migratory animals often became their prey. The evolution of the hyena's behavior was not without the influence of lions - their direct enemies. Practice has shown that it is easier to survive by forming prides - communities. This helped to more effectively hunt and defend their territories. As a result, their numbers have increased.
According to the fossil record, the first species appeared in the Indian Subcontinent. Spotted hyenas have colonized the Middle East. Since then, the habitat of the spotted hyena, like its appearance, has changed a bit.
Appearance
The length of the spotted hyena ranges from 90 - 170 cm, depending on sex, development and age, height - 85-90 cm. The hyena's body is covered with short coarse hair with undercoat. Long hair covers only the neck, giving the impression of a light mane. The body color is pale brown with a darkened muzzle, similar to a mask. The wool of the spotted hyena is covered with dark spots. In some individuals, it has a slightly reddish tint in the back of the head. The body of the hyena has a sloping body with high shoulders and low hips. Their large, rounded body rests on comparatively thin, gray paws, each with four toes. The hind legs are slightly shorter than the front. Large round ears are set high on the head. The shape of the muzzle of the spotted hyena is short and wide with a thick neck, outwardly it looks like a dog.
Sexual dimorphism is pronounced in the appearance and behavior of spotted hyenas. Females are significantly larger than males due to excess testosterone. It is more in females than in males. On average, female spotted hyenas are 10 kg heavier than males and have a more muscular body. They are also much more aggressive.
Separately, it is worth talking about her voice. The spotted hyena is capable of making up to 10-12 different sounds, differentiated as signals for relatives . Laughter, similar to a prolonged howl, is used for communication between individuals. Animals can greet each other using groans and squeals. You can also hear from them "giggles", howls and growls. For example, a low growl with a closed mouth symbolizes aggression. A hyena can make such a sound to a flock during the approach of a lion.
The response to the same signals from different individuals can also be different. The inhabitants of the flock react to the cries of males "reluctantly", with a delay, to the sounds made by the female - immediately.
Lifestyle
Spotted hyenas live in large clans, from 10 to 100 individuals. These are mostly females, they form the so-called matriarchy clan headed by an alpha female. They mark their territory and protect it from other hyenas. There is a strict hierarchy within the clan among females who compete with each other for social position. Females dominate males through aggressive displays. Females are divided according to age. Older adults are considered the main ones, they are the first to eat, produce an order of magnitude more offspring. The rest do not have such privileges, but still are in the hierarchy one step above the males.
Males also have a certain division according to similar characteristics. Dominant males have more access to females, but all as one bow to the "women" of the pack. In connection with such a tough state of affairs, some males often run across to other flocks for breeding.
It is interesting! Spotted hyenas have an elaborate greeting ritual of sniffing and licking each other's genitals. The spotted hyena raises its hind leg for acquaintance so that another individual can sniff it. These highly socialized mammals possess the most complex social structure of primates.
Different clans can wage wars against each other in the struggle for territory. Rivalry among spotted hyenas is expressed in a tough form. They behave differently with their own children. Cubs are born in a communal lair. Siblings of the same sex will fight for dominance, bite each other and inflict sometimes fatal wounds. The winner will dominate the rest of the offspring until they die. Offspring of the opposite sex do not compete with each other.
How long does a spotted hyena live
In its natural habitat, the spotted hyena lives for about 25 years, in captivity it can live up to forty.
Range, habitats
The habitat of the spotted hyena is chosen by the savannas, which are rich in animals included in their favorite diet. They can also be found in semi-deserts, woodlands, dense dry forests, and mountain forests up to 4000m in height. They eschew dense rainforests and deserts. You can meet them in Africa from the Cape of Good Hope to the Sahara.
Spotted hyena diet
The main food of the spotted hyena is meat.. Previously, it was believed that their diet was only carrion - the remains of animals malnourished by other predators. This is far from true, spotted hyenas are primarily hunters. They get about 90% of their food by hunting. Hyenas go fishing alone or as part of a flock led by a female leader. They most often prey on large herbivores. For example, gazelles, buffaloes, zebras, wild boars, giraffes, rhinos and hippos. They may also feed on small game, livestock and carrion.
It is interesting! Despite well-developed hunting skills, they are not picky eaters. These animals do not disdain even a rotten elephant. Hyenas have become the dominant predator in Africa.
Spotted hyenas hunt mostly at night, but are sometimes active during the day. They travel a lot in search of prey. The spotted hyena can reach speeds of about 65 kilometers per hour, which gives it the ability to keep up with a herd of antelope or other animals and grab its prey. A powerful bite helps a hyena to overcome a large animal. One bite to the neck area allows you to break the victim's large blood vessels. After being caught, other animals in the pack help gut the prey. Males and females may fight for food. As a rule, the female wins the fight.
The powerful jaws of the spotted hyena can even cope with the thick femur of a large animal. The stomach also digests everything that gets into it from horns to hooves. For this reason, the feces of this animal are often white in color. If the prey is too large, the hyena can hide some of it for later.
natural enemies
Spotted hyenas are at enmity with. This is their almost only and constant enemy. Of the total share of deaths of spotted hyenas, 50% die from the fangs of a lion. Often it is about protecting your own borders, sharing food and water. So it happened in nature. Spotted hyenas will kill lions and lions will kill spotted hyenas. During the dry season, drought or famine, lions and hyenas are always at war with each other for territory.
It is interesting! The fight between hyenas and lions is tough. It often happens that hyenas attack defenseless cubs or old individuals, for which they are attacked in return.
In the struggle for food and superiority, the victory goes to the group of animals whose numbers prevail. Also, spotted hyenas, like any other animal, can be exterminated by humans.
People have always disliked hyenas, considering them ugly, cowardly and sinister creatures. However, these accusations are unfair. In fact, hyenas are unusually interesting and intelligent animals with an amazing social organization.
Hyenas (Huaenidae) are a predator family of mammals. They are distributed in the semi-deserts, steppes and savannas of Africa, Arabia, India and Western Asia.
The family unites only 4 species of hyenas in 4 genera. Let's get to know them better.
Striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena)
This species is found in North Africa, on the Arabian Peninsula and in the border regions of Asia.
The hair of the striped hyena is long, from light gray to beige. On the body there are from 5 to 9 vertical stripes, on the throat there is a black spot.
Brown hyena (Hyaena brunnea)
The brown (coastal) hyena is common in South Africa and southern Angola. Most often it can be found along the western coast of Namibia. Inhabits semi-deserts and open savannahs. It avoids those places where its brothers hunt - spotted hyenas, since the latter are much larger and stronger.
The coat is shaggy, black-brown in color, while the neck and shoulders are lighter. The limbs have white horizontal stripes.
Spotted Hyena (Crocuta crocuta)
Found in sub-Saharan Africa except in the rainforests of the Congo Basin and the extreme south.
The coat is short, sandy, red or brown. There are dark spots on the back, sides, sacrum and limbs.
In this species, the external genitalia of males and females are difficult to distinguish, hence the myth that these animals are hermaphrodites.
Earthwolf (Proteles cristatus)
The earthen wolf, classified as a hyena, lives in South and East Africa.
It feeds exclusively on insects, licking them from the ground with a long, wide tongue. More information about this species can be found in the article.
External Features
Outwardly, hyenas resemble dogs with a large head and a powerful body. Distinctive features are long forelimbs, a relatively long neck and a hanging back.
The body length of animals, depending on the species, is 0.9-1.8 meters, weight - 8-60 kg. The smallest species is the earth wolf, the largest is the spotted hyena.
The structure of the body eloquently speaks of adaptability to feeding on carrion. The front of the body is more powerful than the back, which is why the hyena has a characteristic sloping back. With elongated forelimbs, the beast tightly presses the carcass to the ground. Strong jaws and teeth, as well as powerful chewing and neck muscles, help the animal, like a secateurs, cut meat and crush bones, extracting a nutritious brain from them.
Lifestyle
Hyenas are active mainly at dusk and at night. Very strong jaws and teeth, an efficient digestive system, and the ability to travel long distances make hyenas successful scavengers.
Food and hunting
The carcasses of dead animals form the basis of the diet of brown and striped hyenas. They supplement their menu with invertebrates, wild fruits, eggs, and occasionally small animals that they manage to kill.
Spotted hyenas are not only effective scavengers, but also good hunters. They are capable of chasing prey at a speed of 60 km/h, while covering a distance of up to 3 km. They usually hunt young large antelopes (oryx, wildebeest). They can cope with an adult zebra, and often with a buffalo.
Spotted hyenas often hide food in silty water bodies. If they are hungry, they return to their hiding places.
Hyenas have an unusually well-developed sense of smell: they can smell the smell of decaying meat located a few kilometers away.
Earthwolves in terms of nutrition are fundamentally different from their relatives. The basis of their diet is termites and insect larvae.
Interestingly, termites try to defend themselves by splashing with a burning substance, but there is no control over the earthen wolf. Its bare nose is so dense that insects cannot bite through it.
Brown hyenas prefer to hunt alone; their spotted relatives often form groups.
Since carrion is easy to find by smell, brown hyenas do not need to search for food in common. In addition, the amount of food that they get is usually only enough for one individual, so the collective search for food would lead to competition between individuals.
The collective hunting strategy of spotted hyenas can be explained by the greater likelihood of success when the efforts of group members are combined. In addition, a large victim, which they can get together, allows you to feed many animals at the same time.
In the photo: spotted hyenas gathered near the carcass of an antelope. Group eating is often accompanied by very loud noise, but rarely by serious contractions. Each animal can eat up to 15 kg of meat in one sitting!
Family life
All types of hyenas, except for the earthen wolf, live in groups (clans). Clan members occupy a common territory and jointly protect it from neighbors.
The spotted hyena clan is dominated by females, and even the highest-ranking males are subordinate to the lowest-ranking females. Males leave their native clan, being on the threshold of maturity. They join a new group and gradually rise up the hierarchical ladder in order to gain the right to participate in reproduction. Females tend to remain in the maternal clan and inherit their mother's rank.
In brown hyenas, clans are built somewhat differently. Some males and females leave their home group during adolescence, others remain in it for a long time, sometimes for life. Males who have left their native family join another clan or lead a wandering lifestyle.
The sizes of clans vary both in different species and within one species, depending on environmental conditions. The most numerous families are usually in spotted hyenas: they sometimes have more than 80 individuals.
In brown hyenas, a clan can only consist of a female and her cubs of the last litter.
The size of the territory occupied by the clan also varies considerably, but it is usually determined by the abundance of food resources. For example, in the Ngorongoro Crater, wildebeest and zebra population density allows a large clan to exist in a small area. And in the arid climate of the Kalahari, where hyenas often have to cover a distance of 50 km in search of prey, the territory occupied by the group is much larger.
Communication
The social systems of hyenas are extremely complex.
First, animals have an effective system of communication at a distance using smells. A distinctive feature of all hyenas is the presence of an anal sac, which they use for a unique type of scent marking. It's called "smearing". Striped and spotted hyenas produce a thick sticky secret of one species, their brown relatives produce a fat white secret and a secret in the form of a black sticky mass. The animal touches the grass stalk with its anal gland and passes it along the stalk, moving forward, leaving a mark. There can be up to 15 thousand marked points on one site, so border violators immediately understand that the owner is in place.
Secondly, hyenas perform elaborate greeting ceremonies. During such a ritual, in brown and striped species, the hair on the back stands on end, the animals sniff each other's head, body and anal sac. Then there is a ritual fight, during which the dominant individual often bites, holds and shakes the neck and throat of the animal that occupies a subordinate position. In spotted hyenas, the ceremony involves mutual sniffing and licking of the genital area.
What sounds do hyenas make?
Hyenas hoot, shrill screams and strange giggling sounds. Signals perceived by a person as hooting are transmitted over several kilometers. With the help of them, hyenas communicate over a long distance. Animals repeat such signals several times, which helps to establish their location, and the signal of each individual has individual characteristics.
Some of the acoustic signals emitted by hyenas can only be heard by a person with the help of an amplifier and headphones.
Procreation and raising offspring
There is no specific breeding season for hyenas. Females do not mate with related males, which avoids degeneration. Numerous males roam the deserts and savannahs alone. Having met the female during her short estrus, the male fertilizes her, and she returns to her family. Pregnancy lasts approximately 90 days, after which 1 to 5 babies are born.
Unlike other predatory mammals, in spotted hyenas, cubs are born sighted and with teeth already erupted. Babies of the same litter are involved in aggressive interactions almost from birth, as a result, a clear hierarchy quickly develops between them, and this allows the dominant cub to control access to mother's milk. Sometimes aggression leads to the death of his weaker counterpart.
Hyenas of all kinds keep their cubs in shelters, which are a system of underground burrows. Here, young individuals can stay up to 18 months. Females of the same clan usually keep their young in a large common burrow.
Different types of hyenas raise their children in different ways. Spotted ones begin to feed them with meat only from the age of nine months, when the younger generation is already able to accompany their mother on the hunt. Up to this point, they are completely dependent on mother's milk.
Brown hyenas also feed their offspring with milk for more than a year, but from the age of three months the diet of the cubs is supplemented with food brought to the shelter by parents and other members of the clan.
Pictured is a spotted hyena with a cub.
All members of the family union take part in the upbringing of the younger generation.
hyena and man
There are no endangered species among hyenas, however, several populations are threatened. And the blame for everything is persecution by a person, caused by prejudice and a negative attitude towards these animals. In North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, striped hyenas are considered grave defilers. The disgust of people towards them reaches such an extent that they are poisoned with poisons and caught in traps.
The fact that hyenas eat carrion also pushes people away from them. However, do not forget that brown and striped hyenas are actually a natural waste processing system.
The fate of brown hyenas is not as sad as striped hyenas, because in the southern part of their African habitat, farmers are gradually changing their attitude towards them. This species is also protected in a number of reserves and national parks.
The spotted hyena often comes into conflict with the local population, as it attacks livestock. The status of this species is defined by the IUCN as "Low Threat: Needs Protection". However, the species is fairly common in many large national parks and other protected areas in East and South Africa.
The status of other species is “Low Threat: Not of Concern”.
In contact with
Hyena - this is how English Prime Minister W. Churchill calls Poland in his memoirs - his faithful ally in World War II, snatching for herself a fat piece of prey, to which she had little to do, except for her participation in the backstage games of London, in which she more than the role of "hyena", and could not apply. The role of Poland has changed little today.
On the eve of the Russia-EU summit in Helsinki on November 24, Poland vetoed the start of negotiations on a new Russia-EU broad-format agreement. As is known, the current Russia-EU agreement expires at the end of 2007. Attempts by the EU countries to persuade the Polish government to lift its veto were unsuccessful. Despite the fact that we are talking about the energy security of the whole of Europe, the arguments of the Polish side simply amazed everyone: "What will we get from this? Make Russia buy our meat." As you know, in November last year, Russia banned the supply of meat from Poland in connection with gross violations of veterinary legislation.
In general, such a position of Poland in the EU, and especially its relations with Russia and Germany - when it allows itself to dictate to Ukraine, Moldova or Georgia how to build their relations with Russia, or when it forbids the Germans to build a museum and a monument in their own capital Berlin millions of their compatriots who died and were expelled after 1945 from the former German territories annexed by Poland after the First and Second World Wars can only be explained from a historical point of view: it so happened that after the Second World War Poland was considered to be a victim country. At first - exclusively a victim of Hitler's aggression, and after the collapse of the USSR, in the era of the so-called glasnost, another version appeared - that two mustachioed rapist villains dishonored the blond and hairy-eyed, innocent beauty Poland in 1939. If you read more serious historical sources, you can see that Poland is not at all like an innocent lamb. Throughout its centuries-old history, Poland has been an unconditional aggressor.
The peak of the aggressive actions of the Poles fell on the "Time of Troubles" (beginning of the 17th century), when, taking advantage of the general confusion, the Poles captured Moscow and put King Vladislav on the throne. In response to the attempt of the Russians to restore the status quo, the Poles, "not caring about the further consequences of such a case and despising the revenge of the Russians," burned Moscow to the ground. It was only at the cost of enormous efforts and sacrifices that Russia managed to expel its "overstayed" neighbors. The end of the liberation war against the Poles, which was led by Prince Dmitry Pozharsky and the Nizhny Novgorod Zemstvo elder Kozma Minin, which ended in the expulsion of the invaders from the Kremlin in 1612, is now, for the second year in a row, celebrated on November 4 as the Day of National Unity of Russia.
In the 20th century, during Jozef Pilsudski's attempt to create Greater Poland "from might to might", the gentry, taking advantage of the then helplessness of Soviet Russia, seized part of Belarus and Ukraine. Yes, a chunk of Lithuania to boot. 130 thousand Red Army soldiers were captured by the Polish army, of which 60 thousand (more than 46%) died in Polish camps from 1920 to 1922. At that time, there were no Gulag camps or Auschwitz (formerly an ordinary labor camp. - P.H.), so that the Poles, as it were, became trendsetters in relation to prisoners of war in the 20th century.
In a report dated December 1938, the report of the 2nd (intelligence) department of the main headquarters of the Polish Army emphasized: "The dismemberment of Russia lies at the basis of Polish policy in the East ... Therefore, our possible position will be reduced to the following formula: who will take part in the division. Poland should not remain passive at this remarkable historical moment. The task is to prepare well in advance physically and spiritually ... The main goal is the weakening and defeat of Russia." It is impossible not to recall that in the same 1938, when, for example, the largest Orthodox church was built in Berlin, considerable donations were made by Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler himself, 114 Orthodox churches were destroyed in Poland. Polish Foreign Minister Jozef Beck has never concealed the fact that Poland lays claim to Ukraine and access to the Black Sea. It is generally difficult to find any period of cooperation with Russia in the history of independent Poland. Moreover, there was a fundamental and unchanged over the centuries conflict of interests. The conflict over the territory of today's Belarus, Ukraine, the Baltic countries and Moldova.
Today, Poland's participation in supporting the "orange revolution" in Ukraine, the fuss over Georgia and Moldova, the scandal over the Polish national minority in Belarus, the active role in the admission of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to NATO reminded that this conflict still exists.
How many epithets have not been awarded to Warsaw lately! It is also the center for the spread of democracy in Eastern Europe (yes, and the place for the placement of the secret dungeons of the CIA! - P.H.), and the main ally of Washington in the Old World, and "looking" over the fledgling democracies, not to mention the fact that Poland is currently seen as the main counterweight to Russia.
Poland has the same relations with its western neighbor. The Germans today in their own country cannot even erect a monument to their dead compatriots - victims of the crime committed by the Poles against the civilian population after the war in the German territories that were ceded to Poland. At the same time, some burgomasters of Polish cities, headed by the then mayor of Warsaw, and now the country's president, Lech Kaczynski, ordered to start a separate calculation of the damage caused by the Germans in their city. Moreover, interestingly, Warsaw is going to bill both the Germans (for burning and blowing up buildings) and the Russians (for not preventing this). Likewise with Wroclaw/Breslau: let the Germans pay for destroying the city, defending it, and the Russians for attacking it, thereby provoking the city's defense.
It is known from textbooks on the history of World War II that it began because of Poland's refusal to satisfy German claims. However, much less is known what exactly Hitler wanted from Warsaw. Meanwhile, Germany's demands were very moderate: to return the "free city of Danzig" to Germany and to resolve the issue of transit, that is, to allow the construction of extraterritorial highways and railways connecting East Prussia with the main part of Germany.
No matter how negatively today the personality of Hitler is assessed, these demands can hardly be called unfounded. The overwhelming majority of the inhabitants of Danzig, unfairly torn from Germany according to Versailles, were Germans who sincerely wanted to reunite with their historical homeland. The demand for roads was also quite natural, especially since the Germans did not encroach on the lands that separated the two parts of Germany.
Therefore, when Germany on October 24, 1938, proposed to Poland to settle the problems of Danzig and the "Polish Corridor", it seemed that nothing foreshadowed complications. The English writer and former Member of Parliament Archibald Ramsay writes: "Hitler's offers were exceptionally generous - he agreed to recognize for Poland the right to own most of the German territories that had gone to her under the Treaty of Versailles, in exchange for which Germany would be allowed to build a highway to Danzig. Instead, a wave repression and terror fell upon the German population living in the territories ceded to Poland after Versailles. But the population of Europe, thanks to the efforts of the mass media, did not know anything about it. The press breathed hatred for everything German. "Hitler cannot be trusted!" - Shouted the headlines " .
The campaign in the then Western press against Germany and its chancellor Hitler is like two drops of water similar to what the Western press today allows itself against Russia and its President Putin. On the agenda, as then, are the problems of the country's territorial integrity, high-profile lawsuits against G. Dimitrov in Germany at that time and D. Khodorkovsky in today's Russia, and the same "corridor" to Koenigsberg-Kaliningrad. And what is most interesting is that Poland - both today and then - still plays the same role as the main instigator of conflicts.
As A. Ramsay wrote, "the slogan" Hitler cannot be trusted! "was based on a deliberate distortion of attempts to resolve the territorial issue. Hitler always stated that his program to correct the injustices of the Versailles diktat included five points, none of which he intends These included: the Sudetenland, part of the lands (not all) seized from Germany and transferred to Poland, the city of Danzig and the "Corridor". In the world press, the events were presented as if Hitler "promised" no one else to present territorial claims if the issue of the Sudetenland would be peacefully resolved, although he said nothing of the kind.When, after the Munich Treaty, Hitler continued the program to restore the territorial integrity of Germany, the press immediately raised a howl that he was doing this "against his own promises."In reality, Hitler stated that he was not going to make any additional demands, but the press presented this in isolation about context - as if the statement was referring to each territory separately - while he had in mind the entire program as a whole.
Lord Lothian, the British Ambassador to the United States, made an honest comment on this subject. In his last speech in Chatami, he said: "If the principle of self-determination were applied to Germany in an honest way, then this would mean the return of the Sudetenland, part of the Polish territories, the Corridor and Danzig." Seeing the intransigence of the Poles, Hitler decided to enforce his demands by force. On April 3, 1939, the Chief of Staff of the OKW, General Wilhelm Keitel, presented a draft "Directive on the unified preparation of the armed forces for war in 1939-1940." April 28, speaking in the Reichstag, Hitler announced the annulment of the German-Polish declaration of 1934 on friendship and non-aggression.
At the same time, England and France are persuading Poland not to yield to Hitler in anything, and in which case the Western democracies as one will stand up for her defense.
Author of the book "What happened June 22, 1941?" Alexander Usovsky writes: "... Appointed by Germany as an enemy, the regime of "rehabilitation" Poland was not only supposed to provoke Germany to bloodshed - this would be extremely insufficient. Poland was supposed to play the role of a skirmisher in the Great European War. The main war - between Germany and the incoming to the aid of the dying Poland by the Soviet Union. The Poles were always ready to subject Germany to fire and sword - this was played by the distant "guarantors of Polish independence". peoples, certain circles of the West found in Poland the ideal material for kindling an all-European military fire.
The Polish leadership did not even hide their desire to fight Germany; it was so confident in its victory that, for example, on August 18, 1939, the Polish ambassador in Paris, Juliusz Lukasiewicz, in an interview with French Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet, arrogantly stated that "not the Germans, but the Poles will break into the depths of Germany in the very first days of the war !" (Mosley L. Lost time. How the Second World War began / Abbreviated translation from English by E. Fedotova. M., 1972. P. 301).
As the American researcher Henson Baldwin, who during the war years worked as the military editor of the New York Times, noted in his book, "they (the Poles) talked and dreamed of a" march on Berlin ".
Their hopes are well reflected in the words of one of the songs:
"... dressed in steel and armor,
led by Rydz-Smigly,
we'll march to the Rhine..."
But before that there was still Czechoslovakia. We all "know" from history books that Hitler's first act of aggression as a result of the so-called "Munich Pact" was the occupation of the Sudetenland. And few people know that at the same time Poland attacked Czechoslovakia. What was the difference in the actions of Germany and Poland? The fact that, unlike Poland, the Germans regained the Sudetenland in accordance with an international treaty signed by all countries participating in the Treaty of Versailles, according to which, after the First World War, the Sudetenland was transferred to the newly created state of Czechoslovakia.
On September 29, 1938, the heads of four European states met in Munich, signing the following agreement: "Munich, September 29, 1938 Germany, Great Britain, France and Italy, in accordance with the agreement already reached in principle on the cession of the Sudeten-German region, agreed on the following conditions and forms of this concession, as well as the measures necessary for this, and by virtue of this agreement, declare each of them responsible for ensuring the measures necessary for its implementation.
This Agreement was signed by German Chancellor A. Hitler, French Prime Minister E. Deladier, Italian leader B. Mussolini and British Prime Minister N. Chamberlain. That is, there was actually no German aggression, but there was an international treaty.
Imagine for a moment the following situation: Russia, on a voluntary basis, unites with Belarus and, under certain conditions, with the participation of international observers, decides with Ukraine the issue of the return of Crimea. This, of course, does not suit certain forces in the West, and they persuade Lithuania not to make any concessions and negotiations on the issue of transit to Kaliningrad, that is, to the same East Prussia, thereby provoking a conflict, and after about five years, NATO captures Russia is satisfied with something like the Nuremberg Trial (or, in the modern version, the Hague International Tribunal), which accuses Russia of aggression against Belarus, Ukraine and the Baltic states. And the new "democratic" governments are expelling from the Baltics and Crimea all Russians who once welcomed Russia's actions.
But this is exactly what they did with Germany, which was already blamed for the unification (Anschluss) with Austria and the internationally resolved issue with the Sudetenland. It should also be taken into account that Czechoslovakia was part of the Monarchy destroyed by Versailles, and the desire of the government of the Third Reich to maintain its influence in this region was as natural as, for example, Russia's desire to maintain its influence in the Caucasus and other post-Soviet republics today. And Transnistria or Crimea is nothing but a modern version of the Sudetenland and Danzig. One must think that for the Russian residents of Crimea, who cherish the dream of reuniting with Russia, the main thing is not at all who is in power in the Kremlin - Yeltsin, Putin or Zhirinovsky. Similarly, the population of Danzig and the Sudetenland did not support Hitler at all, which they were later accused of, but reunification with their homeland, regardless of who sat in the Reichstag - the National Socialists, Social Democrats or Communists.
Therefore, the prosecutors at the Nuremberg trials suffered, trying to present the annexation of the Sudetenland as an aggression of Germany in the indictment, since the defeated country simply did not have the right to vote in its defense. In the end, they came up with the following wording: “After the Nazi conspirators threatened war, Great Britain and France concluded an agreement with Germany and Italy on September 29, 1938 in Munich, providing for the cession of the Sudetenland to Germany. Czechoslovakia was required to agree to this. On October 1 1938 German troops occupied the Sudetenland."
Here, it turns out, what's the matter: Germany, with a population of 70 million people, frightened the British Empire, in which then every fourth person in the world lived and which, together with the metropolis, had 532 million inhabitants, and the French colonial empire, numbering 109 million . man, and only because they agreed to the return of the Sudetenland-German region.
In this case, the place on the dock in Nuremberg, first of all, should have been taken by the entire pre-war Polish elite, if only because at the same time that Germany agreed to return the Sudetenland to it, Poland in October 1938 attacked Czechoslovakia, seizing the Teshenskaya region from it, in which at that time 156 thousand Czechs and Germans and only 77 thousand Poles lived, without any consent from England, France and Italy - absolutely arbitrarily! In Munich, the problem of the Polish minority in Czechoslovakia was not considered. The Agreement read as follows: "The Heads of Government of the Four Powers declare that if within the next three months the problem of the Polish and Hungarian national minorities in Czechoslovakia is not settled by agreement between the governments concerned, then this problem will become the subject of further discussion at the next meeting of the Heads of Government of the Four Powers. present here." The Poles did not wait for three months and did not conclude any agreements with the Czechs - they put forward an ultimatum to Czechoslovakia and attacked it. Today in Poland they are trying to forget this page of their history. Thus, the authors of the "History of Poland from ancient times to the present day" published in Warsaw managed not to mention at all the participation of their country in the division of Czechoslovakia. However, at that time the capture of the Teshen region was seen as a national triumph. Jozef Beck was awarded the Order of the "White Eagle", although for such a "feat" would be more suitable, say, the Order of the "Spotted Hyena". If Germany acted according to an agreement, then the Poles have not the slightest excuse for this - Poland was an aggressor in its purest form!
It is impossible to dispute this conclusion, it can only be hushed up, which Poland does, accusing all its neighbors of crimes against it and hiding behind this its own ethnic cleansing, expulsions and pogroms. So, for example, in 1962 in Jedwabne, an inscription was carved on a memorial stone: "Place of execution of the Jewish population. Hitler's Gestapo and gendarmerie burned 1,600 people alive. 10.7.1941." And only in 2000, Poland had to admit that it was not the Nazis who did it at all, as it was always claimed, but the Poles themselves. J. Yekhransky, former director of the Polish editorial office of Radio Free Europe, wrote: “We have always protested against the lie that the Soviet inscription over the mass graves in the Katyn forest contained: according to it, the Nazi invaders destroyed this place in 1941 year of Polish prisoners of war. Similar lies are written on two monuments in Jedwabna.
In early 2006, during a visit to Germany, Polish President Lech Kaczynski, in an interview with the magazine Der Spiegel, asked about the possibility of building a Center Against Expulsion in Berlin, replied: “I consider this Center a very bad idea, leading to the fact that guilt (German people) will be questioned". This, apparently, worries Poland most of all, because presenting yourself as a "victim" is more convenient to hide the true role that Poland plays in the performance ordered by the West, the purpose of which is to prevent the rapprochement of Germany and Russia.