Sun Destinations

Hyena certainly have a bad reputation in the wild for being nothing but an anxiety ridden scavenger that waits in the wings to steal predator kills. These notorious creatures are a rather complex species and bear remarkable similarities to both cats and dogs. Often mistaken for being a derivative of some sort of canine species, they hyena is more closely related to a cat than a dog.

Despite their misleading image, hyenas are one of the most incredible and powerful species in the animal kingdom. Kevin McLaughlin managed to film a hyena clan scent marking the surrounding shrubbery and an adorable cub joining the feeding frenzy.

Let’s explore the wonderful world of hyenas and find out more about the safari world’s most misunderstood animal.

Hyenas are possibly the most successful carnivores and cleaners in the bushveld. While you might balk at their brazen theft of food, hyenas do manage to steal from powerful lion prides. They also clean-up scraps of rotting meat, which may prevent the spread of disease.

In this video we notice the clan trying to displace the lioness from her recent kill. Find the lions, find the hyenas! It looks like she was pretty much done, judging by her gorged belly.  You can hear the hyena’s vocalisations in the video – spotted hyena actually have 14 calls which extend from loud whooping sounds to nervous laughter. It appears that the rest of the clan may have been contact calling. Each call indicates a different emotion and form of clan contact.

We mostly see hyenas scavenging and running away with stolen morsels. But let’s not forget their bolshy hunting skills that have a relatively high success rate. They hunt by means of coursing. They head straight into a herd, eye out the weakest link and charge their prey until it is exhausted – they even disembowel them as they catch up to their prey.

Hyenas also spend time scent marking areas and emitting vocal displays of territories. Our videographer managed to watch the clan scent marking the shrubbery. They do this by wiping a secretion from their anal gland onto an area – this is actually called pasting.

Hyenas are the most misunderstood and remarkable of creatures. Here are a further five facts about hyenas that you probably didn’t know :

• It’s tricky to sex a hyena. The female has a large penis-like external genital that is actually the opening to the birth canal. The female hyena contains higher levels of testosterone.
• Females hold the cards within a clan. The lowest ranking females are dominant over male hyenas.
• The faeces of a hyena turns white after a while. This is from the high calcium content from all the bones that have been digested.
• Hyenas are born with their eyes open and an aggressive attitude !
• When female cubs are born they automatically assume the rank of their mother. Large and dominant females are top in the hierarchy of a clan.