- Their habitat includes savannah, arid semi-desert, open woodlands,
dense dry woodland, and rocky mountainous forests up to 4,000 m in altitude.
They avoid the dense tropical rainforest that occurs along east-central
Africa. They also are absent from coastal areas.
- Spotted hyenas are a pale brown color with dark spots all over their
back, and a dark brown mask on their face and legs.
- The hair is short and coarse, with a wooly undercoat. The guard hairs
are 30-40mm in length, with undercoat hairs 15-20 mm in length.
- They have a haunched back with low-set hind-quarters.
- Their body is proportionately large and round, set atop thin, long
legs.
- The tail is short in proportion ot the body, and 1/3 of the tail's
length is just hair.
- They have four toes on each foot, with short, blunt, non-retractile
claws.
- Hyenas are opportunistic feeders and obligate carnivores
- Hyenas live in groups called "clans" which consist of up
to 100 members, mostly females (matriarchal society), living together
in a territory that is regularly marked off and defended. They mark
off the territory by pasting a sticky substance excreted form their
anal glands onto grass.
- Hyenas will often steal kills from the smaller felids, such as cheetahs
and leopards
- Head is carried low in relation to their topline.
- Their large, rounded ears are set on the sides high on the head.
- Both sexes have anal scent glands which secrete a thick, sticky secretion
that is used to mark territorial boundaries
- Hyenas hunt alone or in packs led by their female leader, and kill
by tearing their prey apart.
- Typical prey species are herbivorous mammals, and include gazelle,
water buffalo, zebra, warthog, and young giraffe, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus.
However, they have been observed feeding on a wide variety of prey,
including mammals, birds, fish and reptiles
- Hyena's teeth are especially large, set in a heavy jaw, and can crush
through an ungulate's thick femur.
- Hyenas will ingest every piece of the animal. Bones, horns, hooves,
even teeth are digested completely within 24 hours.
- Hyenas have the ability to eat and digest bones due to immensely
powerful jaws, and the highly acidic digestive fluids in their stomach.
|
