Brown or brown hyena is an African predator. Reproduction and offspring

brown hyaena

Prague Zoo (Zoological Garden Prague)
Berlin Tierpark Friedrichsfelde (Tierpark Berlin-Friedrichsfelde)

Getting acquainted with the Prague Zoo, one cannot but pay attention to a couple of new enclosures in its northern part. The area of ​​the forest, bounded by a dry moat, is intended for keeping and exhibiting brown hyenas. Animals settled here in 2008. Thus, then the conditions for keeping a group of brown hyenas in Prague were improved, where there were cases of breeding of unique animals. But I arrived at the zoo at the beginning of April, to my great regret the enclosures were still empty, since the animals were in the winter room. In vain I peered into the hidden corners of the enclosures for several days, there were no hyenas here. Brown hyena (Hyaena brunnea), Prague Zoo

brown hyaena

And yet I was lucky! On the morning of the last, sixth day, I found several keepers on duty around the perimeter of the enclosures - the hyenas were released into the fresh air for the first time after wintering, and the zoo workers monitored the behavior of the animals. But the secretive, unusually shy hyenas, leading a nocturnal lifestyle in nature, did not at all strive to show themselves to others. One of the hyenas was very close - hiding in a dark lair, sometimes looking around, for which it cautiously looked out of its shelter. This is her in the first picture. Several times during the day I approached the enclosures, asked the keepers where the animals were now, whether they had been seen for a long time. And only at the very end of the day I was rewarded - one of the hyenas left her hole and trotted along the path to another. Sometimes the animal would stop and look back, and at that time I was in a hurry to photograph it.

Two days earlier, in the zoo Dvur-Králové, I also met a brown hyena - the animal was sleeping in the center of a spacious enclosure, fenced with high windows. Sometimes the hyena raised its head, but nothing but a pair of ears then got into the frame for me. Brown hyenas have been living in Dvura for more than ten years, but there have been no cases of breeding here.
For the first time, I saw a brown hyena in one of the cages of the Brema House in the Berlin Tierpark back in 2007. And the very next year I was glad that the hyenas were moved to one of the enclosures opposite the elephant house. During the day, this enclosure is always empty, but early in the morning or late in the evening, its resident can be found here. True, the brown hyena, at my approach, tried to quickly disappear into the shelter. She is in the last picture in this post.
Brown hyenas have lived in Tierpark since 1998, until they bred.

If I'm not mistaken, brown hyenas are now kept in only seven zoos in Europe, in addition, they are in the San Diego Zoo. Unlike their close relatives, striped hyenas, and even spotted ones, these take root more difficult in captivity. Breeding cases are rare. Moreover, I was pleased to see now that a pair of hyenas, brought from Prague to the British Wild Animal Park, in Kent, brought three babies this year for the first time in the UK.
The situation with the number of brown hyenas in nature is also bad. They are distributed in the southern and southwestern regions of Africa, in many parts of their range they are practically exterminated. Animals suffer from farmers because of notoriety, although in reality, brown hyenas are scavengers.
These hyenas are also called coastal wolves - exploring the sea coasts, animals collect a variety of animal food, which is thrown out by the waves. It can be the carcass of a pinniped, and fish, and shellfish. In the desert regions of Africa, hyenas eat up the prey of lions, they themselves find the corpses of ungulates. In addition, hyenas sometimes catch small live prey and destroy bird nests. Very fond of juicy sweet fruits. They can do without fresh water longer than other predators.

Brown hyena (Hyaena brunnea), Berlin Tierpark

The hyena genus includes 4 species, one of them is the brown hyena. It lives in southern Africa. These are the territories of Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa. The largest populations live in the Kalahari Desert and in the coastal strip of South West Africa. The habitat is deserts, semi-deserts, open forest savannahs. Also, these animals can be found in rocky mountainous areas. They do not depend on rivers and large reservoirs, as they drink little and rarely. This species is not numerous (habitat area is not more than 470 sq. km) and is on the verge of extinction.

Description

Representatives of the species differ from other hyenas in long and shaggy hair, sharp ears, and dark brown color. The head is grey. The limbs are covered with gray and brown stripes. The neck is covered with long cream-colored hair. The hair on the neck and back may stand on end.

The length of the body varies from 110 to 160 cm. The height at the withers is 70-85 cm. The tail is 25-35 cm long. There is no conspicuous difference between males and females, the only thing is that males are somewhat larger. The average weight of males reaches 40-44 kg, and females weigh 38-40 kg. The maximum weight does not exceed 55 kg.

The jaws of these predators are powerful. Young brown hyenas easily crush the bones of prey, but with age, the teeth wear out and the jaws weaken. These animals live in clans, each of which has its own territory. It is marked with a special secret secreted by the anal gland. It is under the tail.

Reproduction and lifespan

The clan usually has from 4 to 12 individuals. As a rule, the dominant female mates with the dominant male or nomadic males. Sometimes it happens that other females become pregnant. But their broods do not kill. They feed on a par with the brood of the dominant female.

The mating season can be at any time of the year, but most often takes place from May to August. Pregnancy lasts about 3 months. The female produces her first litter at the age of 2 years. In the litter there are from 1 to 5 cubs weighing 1 kg.

Babies are born in a den, which is arranged in the sand dunes away from predators. Cubs are born with their eyes closed. They open on the 8th day of life. Dairy feeding lasts about a year. At the age of one and a half years, the cubs become independent. At two and a half years they reach the size of adults. Females give birth at intervals of 20 months. All adult predators feed the cubs, bringing them food after the hunt. In the wild, the brown hyena lives 12-15 years.

Behavior and nutrition

As already mentioned, these predators live in clans. All its members protect their territory, feed and raise offspring. The clan has a hierarchy with dominant males and females. The male raises his status, thanks to aggressive behavior. Sometimes fights occur, ending in the death of one of the males. Among the females, the oldest always occupies the leading position. Young males, as adults, usually leave their clan and join others. And among females, this behavior is rare.

The diet consists mainly of carrion. The brown hyena supplements its diet with rodents, bird eggs, mushrooms, fruits, and insects. But live prey makes up only 4.2% of the diet. The sense of smell of these animals is exceptional, so they can smell carrion for several kilometers. It should also be said that representatives of the species are quite aggressive and can take prey from jackals, cheetahs, leopards. In the Kalahari desert, this species is at the top of the food chain, as there are no lions, spotted hyenas, wild African dogs.

conservation status

The total number of this species is less than 10 thousand individuals. Therefore, brown hyenas have a threatened status. The number of these animals is decreasing mainly due to their systematic shooting by farmers. They believe that animals harm livestock. At the same time, this species is not in demand as a hunting trophy.

There are several reserves for brown hyenas. These are the National Park in Namibia, the Central Reserve in Botswana, the Natural Park in South Africa. In these places, the animals feel safe, and their number is kept at a stable level.

Hyenas, or Hyenas, are a family of carnivorous mammals of the feline suborder. Characteristic features of the members of the family are a short, thick head with a short, thick or pointed muzzle; their hind legs are shorter than the front ones, so the back is sloping, from the shoulder region to the sacrum. The limbs are four-fingered, with non-retractable claws; step on toes. The tail is shaggy: long, coarse hair forms a mane on the neck and along the back.

Where does the hyena live?

• Hyena habitat depends on the type. For example, earth wolf lives in East, Northeast and West Africa, except for Tanzania and Zambia. Predators settle in open sandy plains or in thickets of bushes, where they go hunting at dusk.
• Brown hyenas live also in Africa, in the Zambezi along the coast of the Indian and Atlantic Ocean, in Tanzania, in Zimbabwe, in Namibia, Somalia, in Botswana. They settle in desert or semi-desert places, in savannahs, in coastal places, in forests, going hunting at dusk.
• Striped hyenas meet in North Africa, in Turkey, in Pakistan, in Uzbekistan, in Armenia, in Azerbaijan, in India, in the south of the Sahara, in the countries of the Arabian Peninsula. At night they go hunting, and during the day they live in burrows, crevices and caves.
• Spotted hyenas live in South and East Africa, in Kenya, Sudan, Namibia, Somalia, Tanzania, Botswana, they settle in the savannas on the hills.

Description

These are large-sized animals: body length varies from 50 cm in a small earthen wolf to 1.5 m in a spotted hyena, weight, respectively, from 10 to 80 kg. All hyenas are characterized by a large head with a wide mouth and powerful jaws. The limbs of hyenas are of different lengths: the hind legs are much shorter than the front ones, which makes it seem as if the hyena crouches all the time. Strong paws are armed with blunt claws. The tail is short, shaggy. The coat of all hyenas is coarse and long, and only the spotted hyena is short.

Different species are colored differently: the spotted hyena is gray with brown spots, the striped hyena is light gray in color with a dark muzzle and black transverse stripes on the body, the brown hyena and the earthen wolf are uniformly brown. A unique feature of hyenas is that females have pseudo-male genitals. Outwardly, animals of different sexes can only be distinguished by size - female hyenas are larger than males. This is where the old belief that hyenas are hermaphrodites comes from. An unpleasant addition is a specific smell, which in these animals is quite strong.

The spotted, brown hyena and the earthen wolf live in Africa, and the striped hyena, in addition to the African continent, is found in Asia Minor, Central and South Asia. All types of hyenas prefer to settle in open landscapes - savannahs, steppes and semi-deserts. The brown hyena is found mainly on the coasts of the continent.

Types of hyenas

Below is a brief description of the varieties of hyenas.

Striped hyena (lat. Hyaena hyaena)

A rather large animal with a body length of 0.9 to 1.2-1.5 meters and a height at the withers of up to 0.8 m. The length of the tail is about 30 cm. Males are much larger than females, therefore, depending on gender, the hyena weighs from 27 to 54 (sometimes 60) kg. Thanks to a special mane of coarse hair, the length of which sometimes reaches 30 cm, the height of the scapular region becomes more pronounced. The coat is about 7 cm long, dirty gray or brown-yellow in color with black or brown stripes running across the body. The characteristic structure of the paws of the striped hyena becomes especially noticeable while walking, which makes it seem that the animal is dragging the back of the body. The fingers on the front and hind limbs are tightly connected. The head of the striped hyena is large, with a slightly elongated muzzle and wide pointed ears of large size. 34 teeth, which are located in wide jaws, driven by powerful muscles, allow you to tear meat and bones into pieces.

The striped hyena lives in clay deserts or rocky foothills. It comes out in search of prey at night and twilight hours, and during the day it sits in crevices, abandoned burrows or caves. Striped hyenas are the only members of the family that can live in areas that are not on the African continent. The habitat of this species includes the countries of North Africa, as well as spaces located south of the Sahara. These animals are found in Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, India and the countries of the Arabian Peninsula.

Brown hyena (lat. Hyaena brunnea)

This species differs from the striped hyena in its more modest size. The body length of these animals rarely exceeds 1.1 - 1.25 m (according to some sources, the maximum length reaches 1.6 m). The height at the withers is 70–88 cm. The sizes of males and females are practically the same, although the weight of males is slightly larger and can exceed 48 kg, while the body weight of females barely reaches 40 kg. A light mane up to 30 cm long, hanging from the neck along the entire spine of these hyenas, looks in contrast to the shaggy, monophonic, brown-brown coat, which is slightly longer than that of the striped relatives. A characteristic feature of this species is the gray color of the head and legs, with horizontal whitish stripes clearly visible on the legs.

The neck and shoulders are painted white. The size of the skull of brown hyenas is larger than the skull of striped hyenas, and the teeth are more durable. Below the base of the tail in these animals is the anal gland, which produces secretions of black and white. With its help, the animal marks the boundaries of its territory. Brown hyenas live in desert and semi-desert areas, are found in savannahs and forests, but most of the populations are tied to coastal areas. The habitat of the brown hyena includes Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and Mozambique, Tanzania and Somalia, as well as other African countries located south of the Zambezi River along the coast of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. These animals come out in search of food after dark.

Spotted hyena (lat. Crocuta crocuta)

Wild animal of the genus Crocuta. Spotted hyenas are the most typical representatives of the whole family. This is expressed in the characteristic structure of the body of the animal and its habits. The body length with a tail can reach 1.6 m (according to some sources, 1.85 m), the height at the withers is up to 80 cm. The weight of female hyenas ranges from 44.5 kg to 82 kg, males are much lighter and weigh from 40 kg to 62 kg. Yellowish-gray or sandy coat, decorated with rounded dark brown or black spots on the sides, back and limbs, shorter than that of relatives.

Depending on the habitat, the color of the body can change from lighter to darker tones. The coat on the head is brown, with a reddish tinge on the cheeks and nape. On a rather short tail with a dark tip, brown rings are clearly visible. On the front and hind limbs of a mammal there may be light "socks". Unlike representatives of other species, spotted hyenas have shorter ears and their tips are rounded. These hyenas have the largest "repertoire" of vocal communication, allowing them to express various emotions. Spotted hyenas live in the savannahs and on the elevated plateaus of Sudan, Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, Namibia, Botswana and other countries of South or East Africa. Spotted hyenas are most active at night, although they can scour in search of prey during the day. The social organization of clans in spotted hyenas is based on the dominance of females, so even high-ranking males are subordinate to low-ranking females.

Earthwolf (lat. Proteles cristatus)

The smallest species of the hyena family. Unlike spotted and striped hyenas, earthwolves have a more delicate physique. The body length of these animals reaches 55-100 cm with a height at the withers of up to 50 cm, and the weight of individuals is 8-14 kg. Like all hyenas, the hind limbs of the earthen wolves are shorter than the front ones, but the slope of the back is not so pronounced. The head of these animals is slightly elongated and resembles a dog in appearance. On the coat, which is colored yellowish-gray or reddish, black transverse stripes are clearly visible. The same stripes are visible on the legs of the animal. A long hanging mane, running along the entire ridge, at the moment of danger takes a vertical position and visually increases the size of this small predator. The jaws of earthwolves are much weaker than those of other species, which is due to the diet of the wolf, which feeds on termites and other insects and their larvae, such as dead beetles. In these representatives of the hyenas, the only ones from the whole family, the forelimbs have five fingers.

Earthwolves live in most countries of East, Northeast and South Africa, absent only in the tropical forests of Tanzania and Zambia, which makes the distribution area of ​​\u200b\u200bthis species broken. These predators prefer to settle in places where there are open sandy plains and thickets of bushes. In search of food, they go at twilight and night hours, and during the day they sit out in abandoned porcupine burrows, although they are able to dig their own shelters.

Pachycrocuta brevirostris

This is an extinct species of hyena. Judging by the fossil bones found in Eurasia, eastern and southern Africa, these hyenas were real giants. The average weight of the predator was about 110 kg, and the size of the animal can be compared with the size of a modern lioness. Perhaps the representatives of the species were scavengers, since with such impressive dimensions it was not easy to develop high speed for hunting.

Lifestyle

Not all representatives of this family live in packs: the striped hyena and the earthen wolf prefer loneliness. But the spotted and brown hyenas form flocks of five individuals or more, while the flock of spotted hyenas is sometimes huge and consists of a hundred individuals. There is a clear hierarchy among these animals - all lower individuals are completely subordinate to the higher ones (the position is determined primarily by the rank of the mother of small hyenas at their birth and it is extremely difficult to change it afterwards). Males always occupy a lower position, and the most experienced female is at the head.

Behavioral Features

There is a misconception that this mammal is a dangerous animal. This opinion is based on the fact that they kill the innocent, and also eat carrion. In fact, there are much more dangerous creatures in nature, and thanks to the ability of a person to tame and train, even domestic hyenas are found. At the same time, they become the best friend at home. If an animal goes to a meeting and begins to trust a person, then in terms of devotion it will not yield to an ordinary dog ​​in any way.

Nature endowed the nimble predator with amazing abilities at first glance. For example, they are able to make peculiar sounds. With a devilish laugh, the hyena notifies its family of the discovery of a large amount of food. But animals like lions have learned to recognize these urges. Often lions take food from hyenas. A flock of predators is not able to fight such a serious opponent and retreats. And they have no choice but to eat up the leftovers or look for a new place for lunch.

In addition, nature endowed the ends of the paws of the animal with glands. According to the specific smell of the produced secretion, the "hunters" learned to identify the individuals of their flock. That allows them to identify and scare away the stranger.

The hyena is not a terrible animal. In fact, they perform a very important role by eating carrion - they perform the function of orderlies. At the same time, by hunting other animals, they ensure the equality of the animal world.

Voice

The language of hyenas is very diverse and they communicate with each other using sounds - first of all, it is a world-famous cry, which is the laughter of hyenas, which gives the impression that the animal laughs extremely unpleasantly. In fact, these sounds are a mixture of howling, screaming, roaring and something like laughter. Thus, these animals control the order of eating: the main female informs the whole world that she has finished eating, and therefore the next individual in the hierarchy can start eating - this helps pugnacious, warlike and dangerous animals maintain established relationships in the pack, and also avoid fights and conflicts.

Such a laugh is inherent only to the spotted hyena, but the brown hyena and the striped hyena do not make such a sound at all. They produce growls, screams, grunts and a rough, hoarse howl.

The behavior of hyenas in a pack

Matriarchy reigns in a pack of predators, a hierarchy is built according to the following principles:

• Older females are the most important. They are given the greatest privileges: to rest in the coolest place in the hole, to be the first to taste dinner. In turn, they bring and grow the largest offspring.
• Low class females. They follow the elders, that is, they start eating in the second turn, rest at a distance from the elders.
• Males. They belong to the lowest class.

What do hyenas eat?

Brown and striped hyenas usually hunt alone and are primarily scavengers, occasionally feeding on eggs, invertebrates, or small vertebrates. Spotted hyenas often come out in search of prey in small groups and take prey from jackals, cheetahs, and leopards. Often they themselves arrange hunting for rodents, birds, turtles, antelopes, young giraffes, zebras and even elephants. In addition, these predators are not averse to eating domestic animals (for example, sheep). Sometimes spotted hyenas attack buffaloes, and having strayed into a large flock, they are able to kill this large animal. In the hungry season, spotted hyenas can be content with carrion: the corpses of small and large animals, including marine ones, as well as food waste. In addition, the menu of all members of the family, except for earthen wolves, also includes plant foods. Hyenas willingly eat nuts and seeds of plants, as well as gourds - watermelons, melons, fruits from the pumpkin family.

Unlike other species, the earthwolf never feeds on the corpses of dead animals. The basis of its diet is termites, dead-eating beetles, insect larvae. When the opportunity arises, he catches small rodents, destroys bird nests and eats not only eggs, but also the birds themselves.

Hunting

To catch prey, nature endowed hyenas with short hind and long front legs, which allows them to develop tremendous speed and cover quite long distances without stopping.

As a hunter, the animal is much superior in skills to lions. They mainly hunt at night overcoming more than seventy kilometers. In hunting, the mammal simply exhausts its prey by running long distances. At the same time, frightening her with devilish laughter, turning into a howl. When the victim is unable to run, they bite her legs, thereby completely immobilizing her. They eat prey alive, and not like other hunters pre-suffocate.

Their hearing, sense of smell and vision are at the highest level. For example, they smell carrion at a distance of more than four kilometers.

Reproduction and offspring

A female spotted hyena can produce offspring at any time of the year; there is no specific time allotted for this. The female genitalia look frankly unconventional. They got such a structure due to too high levels of testosterone in the blood. The vulva merges into large folds and looks like the scrotum and testicles. The clitoris is too large and resembles a phallus. The vagina passes through this pseudo-penis. For mating, the female may invert the clitoris so that the male can insert his penis.

The male takes the initiative to mate. By smell, he understands when the female is ready to mate. The male delicately lowers his head in front of his "lady" as a sign of respect and proceeds to decisive action only after her approval. Often, females mate with males who are not members of their clan. It has been observed that hyenas can have sex for pleasure. Also involved in homosexual activity, especially females with other females.

The gestation period for the spotted hyena is 4 months.. The young are born in the brood burrow fully developed, with open eyes and fully formed teeth. Babies weigh from 1 to 1.5 kg. They are quite active from the very beginning. Childbirth is an extremely difficult process for the spotted hyena, this is due to the structure of its genitals. Hard-to-heal tears can occur on the genitals, which significantly delays the recovery process. Often childbirth ends with the death of the mother or calf.

Each female breastfeeds her babies for 6-12 months before weaning (full weaning may take another 2-6 months). Presumably, such long feeding may be possible due to the high content of bone products in the diet. The milk of the spotted hyena is extremely rich in nutrients necessary for the development of babies. It has the largest amount of protein in the world, and in terms of fat content, it is second only to polar bear milk. Due to such a high fat content, the female can leave the burrow for hunting for 5-7 days without worrying about the condition of the babies. Little hyenas are considered adults only in the second year of life.

natural enemies

Spotted hyenas feud with lions. 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 supremacy, the victory goes to the group of animals whose numbers prevail. Also, spotted hyenas, like any other animal, can be exterminated by humans.

Population and species status

In South Africa, Sierra Leone, Round, Nigeria, Mauritania, Mali, Cameroon, Burundi, their numbers are on the verge of extinction. In some countries, their population is declining due to hunting and poaching.

Important! Spotted hyenas are listed in the Red Book.

In Botswana, the population of these animals is under state control. Their burrows are remote from human settlements; in the region, the spotted hyena acts as game. Low risk of extinction in Malawi, Namibia, Kenya and Zimbabwe.

Hyena and jackal - differences

Hyenas, like jackals, are representatives of the order of predatory mammals, but there are quite a few differences between them:

• Hyenas are much larger than jackals: on average, their body length is from 0.8 m to 1.6 m, and the weight of adult animals is from 14 kg to 80 kg or more. The body of a jackal reaches no more than 0.6-0.85 m in length, and the animal weighs only 8 to 10 kg.
• Jackals belong to the canine family (lat. Canidae), while hyenas belong to the hyena family (lat. Hyaenidae). In appearance and lifestyle, jackals occupy a middle position between foxes and wolves. The muzzles of these animals are sharper than the wolf, but not sharp enough compared to the fox. Hyenas, unlike jackals, are more similar to cats in the structure of the skull.
• Unlike the hyena, the hind and front legs of the jackal are the same length, so when viewed from the side, its back does not appear to be sloping.
• The gestation period for jackals lasts only 2 months, and for hyenas it takes from 3 to 3.5 months. Female jackals are more prolific, in one litter there can be from 4 to 7, and sometimes 8 cubs. There are usually no more than 3-4 puppies in a hyena litter, although spotted hyena litter can sometimes have up to 7 newborns.
• Under natural conditions, jackals at the age of 8-10 years are considered long-lived, in captivity they can live up to 12-14 years, sometimes even up to 16 years. Hyenas live in nature for no more than 12-15 years, and in zoos - up to 24 years of age.
• Hyenas rarely get rabies, jackals are more susceptible to this virus.

• Since ancient times, a person has retained a biased attitude towards the hyena. The imagination of people has always been disturbed by the sloppy appearance and unpleasant smell emanating from this beast, its eating habits, behavior and, of course, the laughter of a hyena, similar to a human. All this gave rise to myths and various legends about this animal, which were passed down from generation to generation and gradually turned into facts. Only at the end of the 20th century (1984), a center for the study of the hyena family was opened in California at the University of Berkeley. Today, 40 spotted hyenas are kept here.
• The ancient Greeks believed that these animals are hermaphrodites, that is, a female can easily turn into a male and vice versa. Only after studying hyenas, modern scientists found out that among hyenas there are both females and males, but the external genitalia of males and females are outwardly very similar. The clitoris in female spotted hyenas is quite large and reaches a length of 15 cm, and the saccular fold formed by the labia resembles the scrotum in appearance. Such an unusual structure of the external genital organs of females is associated with an increased level of testosterone (male hormone) in the body of pregnant hyenas. Embryos developing in the womb seem to “bath” in this hormone. Subsequently, this also affects the character of the females.
• It is believed that hyenas are very cowardly, but, contrary to this opinion, they are able to take prey from a lone lion or lioness. Sometimes old sick lions themselves can become victims of hyenas.
• Representatives of the hyena family in the folklore of many peoples have become the personification of betrayal, deceit, meanness, gluttony and greed. In the legends of the peoples of Africa, these animals are able not only to laugh like a man, but also to imitate his speech, inviting passers-by into the darkness, hypnotize them with their eyes, and then kill them. Fortunately, there is no scientific confirmation of the attack of hyenas on humans. But if the animal is driven into a trap, it can bite off the fingers of the hunter.
• Most often, when in trouble, the hyena does not resist. Pretending to be dead, she waits for the danger to disappear, and then "comes to life".
• In East Africa, there are peoples who revere this animal. The Tawbs believe that hyenas are the animals of the Sun that brought the luminary to the Earth to warm it. The Vaniki people consider the hyena their ancestor and mourn its loss more than the loss of their leader.

Previously, people were able to prepare healing potions from different parts of the hyena (skin, liver, brain, other organs), supposedly healing from various ailments. For example, eye diseases were treated with her liver. The skin had "magic properties", people believed that with its help it was possible to protect crops in the fields and their homes from hail.

Video

Sources

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyenas https://nashzeleniymir.ru/hyena#giena-i-shakal-otlichiya.

The brown or coastal hyena is smaller than its closest relative, the spotted hyena, and is also distinguished by the presence of a long, coarse mane, painted brown without spots, which hangs from the back to the sides. The species is distributed in the deserts of southern Africa, and prefers to live in areas close to the coastline. It feeds on carrion and marine debris. This is the largest land animal, which is characterized by such a diet. The females and males of the species look the same. Brown hyenas live in groups of 4 to 15 individuals, led by males.

1905

Let's move on to more detailed specifications:

Length

In length, brown hyenas reach from 86 to 150 cm, the average body length of the species is 110-125 cm.

Growth

Height 71-88 cm, tail length from 25 to 35 cm.

The weight

The weight of adult males is in the range of 40-44 kg, females weigh a little less - from 37 to 41 kg.

Wool

Brown hyenas have long and shaggy hair, especially in the tail and back. The neck and back of the animal are covered with hair up to 30 cm long.

Color

It is painted mainly in a dark brown color of the body with a gray head. Paws are gray in color, decorated with dark horizontal stripes.

Jaws

The brown hyena has very powerful jaws: a young animal is able to crush the bones of the legs, but with age, the teeth noticeably wear out and this ability is lost.

How they mark territory

Animals have a special anal gland located at the base of their tails that secretes black and white secretions. These hyena secretions are applied to the grass to mark the boundaries of the areas on which they live.

Food

The brown hyena in its diet is a typical scavenger. The diet of the animal includes mainly the corpses of animals that were killed by large predators, and this food is supplemented by rodents, insects, eggs and fruits. As a scavenger, the brown hyena behaves very aggressively, it often appropriates the corpses of the victims of such predators as the black-backed jackal, cheetah and leopard. This animal is recognized as the most carnivorous in the barren desert regions of the Namib and Kalahari. In the absence of a sufficient amount of carrion, the brown hyena turns to vegetables, fruits, marine organisms, ostrich eggs, insects, if necessary, it is also able to hunt birds, lizards, small mammals and even poultry. Occasionally it is able to attack such large prey as a young antelope.

During the rains

During the rainy season, when zebras and antelopes roam the deserts, the main source of food for the brown hyena is the remains of the prey of the leopard, lion and cheetah.

During the drought

During the dry season, brown hyenas get the necessary moisture from cucumbers and melons, the rest of the time they drink rainwater, which accumulates in temporary reservoirs.

Where does it live

The species is widely distributed in the Namib and Kalahari deserts, in the central regions of the African continent south of the Sahara, in countries such as Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana and southern Angola.

Male and female: main differences

In general, sexual dimorphism in this species is not manifested in any way. Sometimes males are larger than females.

Behavior

For life, the brown hyena prefers clay deserts, where there are ravines, desert foothill areas with caves and gorges, and the banks of large rivers. The animal arranges its lairs in the depths of caves under sheds, among stones, sometimes in shallow burrows of other animal species.

social hierarchy

The brown hyena is characterized by a pronounced social hierarchy, which resembles the state of affairs among wolves. In general, this is a social animal that lives in groups that consist of adults (male and female) and young animals related to them, although families are sometimes found in which there are several adults of both sexes. In such cases, there is always one dominant male leader. Young males, upon reaching puberty, move from their native family to other clans. The brown hyena maintains the stability of such a hierarchy through various fights and displays of strength.

Lifestyle

Brown hyenas feed mostly alone, but the hunting paths of the group are always common. In general, family groups stay together inside. Older hyenas help in guarding the younger hyenas, emitting alarms when predators approach or any other threats. Males easily leave their group and move to another. Approximately one third of all adult males lead a solitary wandering lifestyle.

reproduction

At the age of about 2 years, female brown hyenas reach puberty and after the first estrus they give birth to cubs.

Pairing

Mating occurs mainly from May to August, and the gestation lasts about 100 days. Female brown hyenas mate either with stray lone males or with the leaders of their family groups. If there are other adult males in the clan, except for the leader, they do not take part in mating, but help to raise offspring.

childbirth

Females give birth in burrows that are hidden in the sand dunes, and are far from the habitats of the spotted hyena and lion. Every 20 months, females breed offspring. If two broods are born in one group at the same time, then the mothers raise each other's cubs.

Offspring

There are usually 1 to 5 babies in a litter, which weigh about 1 kg. They are born, unlike the cubs of the spotted hyena, with their eyes closed, which open after 8 days. At the age of three months, the young go out of the holes. Until this time, babies are fed by all members of the flock. Up to 14 months, young individuals remain close to their mother in their group, after which they can leave her.

Threats

The brown hyena population is currently stable. Its main natural enemies are the lion and the common hyena. And the main threat is persecution by people, as farmers often classify the species as a pest due to attacks on livestock and destroy it for this reason, although in fact such a hunt is not typical for a hyena. They contain and preserve the species in many reserves and reserves.

Interesting Brown Hyena Facts:

• The brown hyena leads a rather secluded lifestyle, the period of animal activity falls at night. Despite having very keen vision and hearing, the animal is much more inclined to navigate in the environment by smell.
• Brown hyenas make a wide variety of sounds. Most often their voices are heard in the deserts at dusk and at night. When hyenas quarrel with each other, for example, over food, you can hear how they whine, growl and howl.

Order: Carnivora Bowdich, 1821 = Carnivores

Family: Hyaenidae Gray, 1869 = Hyenas, hyenas

Species: Hyaena brunnea Thunberg, 1820 = Brown [coastal] hyena

Species: Hyaena brunnea Thunberg , 1820 = Brown [coastal] hyena

The central point of the clan territory, where all social contacts are carried out and clan members meet, is their common communal lair. Here, at the lair, brown hyenas participate in the welcoming ceremony. Female shore hyenas do not have the hugely enlarged clitoris seen in spotted hyenas, so their greetings are more like dogs sniffing each other's anal areas.

Young hyenas of all ages lie here to rest in close contact, and here they play together. The game in the form of a fight with a strong grip on the jaws and teeth of the opponent's neck is often carried out so rudely and harshly that all the cubs acquire numerous scars on the neck.

The order (hierarchy) is observed by each member of the clan, taking his place in it, determined by displays of dominance and submission. On the sides of the anus, the coastal hyena has special odorous glands, from which a secret is secreted that gives this animal an unpleasant odor, and they mark their territory with it. One clan of 3 males and 2 females made approximately 145,000 marked points of anal gland secretion throughout the year, placing them throughout their territory. All scent markings are made by clan members and they protect the territory from the encroachment of a neighboring clan, but show little antagonism to roaming forms.

When out of the den, shore hyenas are solitary animals and each animal forages only alone, although several individuals form a group around a large carcass to forage together.

The coastal hyena is active mainly at night, and feeds mainly on carrion, while they do not disdain even the carcasses of their fellows. In the absence of carrion, the coastal hyena can make do with fruits and vegetables, marine organisms, insects (such as locusts, termites, and dung beetles), and other invertebrates, and can also take small bustards and other birds, ostrich eggs, and can hunt small animals such like rodents, lizards and, occasionally, poultry. It also takes vertebrate live prey up to the size of young antelope (springbok in particular). But of the approximately 58 different types of food identified in the litter of these hyenas, less than 6% by weight is vertebrate live prey that these animals have taken on their own.

The foraging individual pursues small game, but only for a short distance; only 1 out of 6 - 10 attempts to catch prey is successful. Of the 128 hunts specifically observed, only six were successful. Sometimes a hyena chases a bird or a hare, but rarely tries to move calmly, i.e. hide her. Hyenas, which are found on the carcasses of large animals, are surprisingly tolerant, especially to individuals of the opposite sex. However, no more than 3 hyenas are fed together.

During the rainy season, when antelopes and zebras scatter across the Kalahari, leftovers from the meals of lions, leopards, and cheetahs are the hyenas' main source of food. During the dry season, due to food shortages in the desert, carrion and fruits and vegetables increase dramatically in their diet. . Tsama (or gemsbok cucumber) and other melons are the main source of moisture during 8 dry months, and at other times hyenas are able to drink from temporary rainwater pools.

The coastal hyena, found along the coastline of the Namib Desert, has been found to occasionally prey on the pups of seals living there (but only about 3% of them are taken by itself), and also eat beached marine life (fish, crustaceans).

Although the brown hyena has keen eyesight and hearing, they usually rely more on their sense of smell. They have an excellent sense of smell which aids them in detecting carrion and other prey at great distances. Sensing prey, they are able to run at high speed for long distances to get to the carcass of carrion before other scavengers.

During the dry season, brown hyenas actively forage for almost 10 of the 12 evening and night hours, picking up mostly small food items when traveling up to 30 km per day, and sometimes travels more than 50 km.

During the rainy season, they are provided with food much better, and therefore travel less.

They have very powerful jaws and large, strong teeth perfectly adapted to easily crack, grind and eat any bone. The hyena is able to bite open an ostrich egg even though it has slightly less powerful jaws than the spotted hyena, which must strike the egg until it breaks. The coastal hyena has 5/4 molars, and only in the upper jaw, behind the carnivorous tooth, there is a small, often falling out, tuberculate tooth; false-rooted ones are equipped with wide conical crowns.

Coastal hyenas store food like foxes. They regularly hide surplus food in a grassland or den 100 to 600 yards from a food source, to return to it and eat it usually at nightfall. Other scavengers rarely find hyena stocks, even though food stocks are marked with the scent of hyenas, and they forage only within 15 to 20 yards of food stock habitats. On the other hand, small hyena prey are usually taken to their den to feed their pups, covering an average distance of about 6.4 km.

Foraging hyenas leave scent marks on grass plants every 4-6 minutes. White secretion is easily detected by humans, while black secretion disappears quickly in plants. Experiments and chemical studies have shown that each individual leaves its own scent and that other brown hyenas can accurately identify it.

A variety of behavioral contacts are observed between individual animals.

Thus, a stronger aggressive individual may grab, hold and bite another, while the victim yells and growls, but refrains from sharp responses. Usual one-sided aggression, most violent between territorial neighbors of the same sex. Within clans, this behavior is sometimes directed at sub-adult animals during mating season.

Communication through visual and vocal means is limited. The most expressive display is the rise of the mane on the neck and back, which occurs in conflict situations. Territorial duels are usually highly ritualized encounters between two animals of the same sex, accompanied by loud shrieks and growls of submissive animals. The brown hyena has no spatial inter-clan signaling call.

Chemical communication in coastal hyenas is highly developed. Restrooms and special labels are distributed throughout the site. Two distinct secretions from their anal glands are used for marking: a watery black paste that loses its fragrance in a few hours, and a white swab-like secretion that lasts a very long time, at least a month. In addition to territorial marking, a long-lasting paste strengthens the position of the individual in the clan. A short acting secret can tell other members of the clan where the hyena has foraged and help the hyenas to evenly survey their territory to reduce the possibility of competition within the clan for food.

The voices of coastal hyenas can most often be heard at dusk and at night. The coastal hyena is a very vocal animal, like the spotted hyena, but unlike it, it does not make characteristic laughing (laughter) sounds. When quarreling with each other over food, the shore hyena will howl, whine and growl at each other.