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Large Hyena
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Large Hyena
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Hyena - also spelled hyaena - any of three
species of coarse-furred, doglike carnivores found in Asia and Africa and
noted for their scavenging habits.
Hyenas have long forelegs and a
powerful neck and shoulders for dismembering and carrying prey.
Hyenas are tireless trotters with
excellent sight, hearing, and smell for locating carrion, and they are
proficient hunters as well. All hyenas
are more or less nocturnal. Spotted hyenas range south of the Sahara except in rainforests. They are ginger-coloured with patterns of dark spots unique to each individual, and females are larger than males. Weighing up to 82 kg (180 pounds), they can measure almost 2 metres (6.6 feet) long and about 1 metre tall at the shoulder. Spotted hyenas communicate using moans, yells, giggles, and whoops, and these sounds may carry several kilometres. The spotted hyena hunts everything from young hippos to fish, though antelopes are more common. In East and Southern Africa, they kill most of their own food, chasing wildebeest, gazelles, and zebras at up to 65 km (40 miles) per hour for 3 km. Contrary to popular belief, healthy as well as weakened individuals are taken. One or two animals may start the chase, but dozens might be in on the kill; an adult zebra mare and her two-year-old foal (370 kg total weight) were observed being torn apart and consumed by 35 hyenas in half an hour. Strong jaws and broad molars allow the animal to get at every part of a carcass and crush bones, which are digested in the stomach by highly concentrated hydrochloric acid. Spotted hyenas sometimes go several days between meals, as the stomach can hold 14.5 kg of meat. Order Carnivora branched into dog and cat lineages 50 million years ago; hyenas arose from the cat group. Thus, although hyenas look like dogs, they are actually more closely related to cats. Family Hyaenidae diverged about 30 million years ago. Early hyaenids did not all have bone-crushing molars; those were probably a recent development as some hyenas exploited large carcasses left by sabre-toothed cats. Encyclopędia Britannica. 2006. Encyclopędia Britannica Premium Service. |
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