'Friendly' hyenas are more likely to form mobs, research shows
After more than 35 years of surveillance, Michigan State University researchers are exposing some of the secret workings of mobs. To be clear, these mobs are made up of spotted hyenas.
After more than 35 years of surveillance, Michigan State University researchers are exposing some of the secret workings of mobs. To be clear, these mobs are made up of spotted hyenas.
Plants & Animals
Dec 5, 2023
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Hominins—the group that includes humans and our extinct relatives—may have been capable of competing with giant hyenas for carcasses abandoned by saber-toothed cats and jaguars during the late-early Pleistocene era (approximately ...
Evolution
Sep 28, 2023
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110
In some monarchies, inherited power offers a ladder that can be ascended to absolute authority—be it through diplomacy, ruthlessness, or the passing of time. But in hyena monarchies, inherited power is a slippery downward ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 26, 2023
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The Serengeti in Tanzania is home to large populations of wildlife species, including spotted hyenas (Crocuta ocaliz). While many human activities are prohibited in the national park, driving is allowed in and through the ...
Ecology
Apr 6, 2023
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On quiet nights across large swaths of the African bush, you may hear a series of whooping calls in the distance. This unique sound is the long-distance vocalization used by spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) to communicate ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 16, 2023
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In most mammals, males disperse to a new group after reaching sexual maturity. Dispersal often entails costs and is risky. New results from spotted hyenas show that males from the same birth group—and particularly twin ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 19, 2022
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Pastoralists herding their livestock through the territories of spotted hyena clans along dedicated paths during daytime do not reduce the reproductive performance of hyena clans, nor elevate the physiological "stress" of ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 6, 2022
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As dusk begins cloaking the Maasai Mara grasslands of southwestern Kenya, a spotted hyena slinks beneath the woody umbrella that is the acacia tree.
Plants & Animals
Sep 16, 2022
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Indiscriminate snaring for bushmeat hunting may have varying collateral effects on non-target species, ranging from mild injuries to death. Beyond immediate mortalities these effects are rarely examined. A team of scientists ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 3, 2022
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Darwinian evolution is the process by which natural selection promotes genetic changes in traits that favor survival and reproduction of individuals. How fast evolution happens depends crucially on the abundance of its "fuel": ...
Evolution
May 26, 2022
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Hyenas or Hyaenas (from Greek "ὕαινα" - hyaina) are the animals of the family Hyaenidae ( /hɪˈɛnɨdɛ/) of suborder feliforms of the Carnivora. It is the fourth smallest biological family in the Carnivora (consisting of four species), and one of the smallest in the mammalia. Despite their low diversity, hyenas are unique and vital components to most African and some Asian ecosystems.
Although phylogenetically close to felines and viverrids, hyenas are behaviourally and morphologically similar to canines in several aspects (see Convergent evolution); both hyenas and canines are non-arboreal, cursorial hunters that catch prey with their teeth rather than claws. Both eat food quickly and may store it, and their calloused feet with large, blunt, non-retractible nails are adapted for running and making sharp turns. However, the hyenas' grooming, scent marking, defecating habits, mating and parental behaviour are consistent with the behaviour of other feliforms. Although long reputed to be cowardly scavengers, hyenas, especially spotted hyenas, kill as much as 95% of the food they eat, and have been known to drive off leopards or lionesses from their kills. Hyenas are primarily nocturnal animals, but may venture from their lairs in the early morning hours. With the exception of the highly social spotted hyena, hyenas are generally not gregarious animals, though they may live in family groups and congregate at kills.
Hyenas first arose in Eurasia during the Miocene period from viverrid-like ancestors, and developed into two distinct branches; the lightly built dog-like hyenas and the robust bone-crushing hyenas. Although the dog-like hyenas thrived 15 million years ago (with one taxon having colonised North America), they died out after a change in climate along with the arrival of canids into Eurasia. Of the dog-like hyena lineage, only the insectivorous aardwolf survived, while the bone-crushing hyenas (whose extant members are the spotted, brown and striped hyena) became the undisputed top scavengers of Eurasia and Africa.
Hyenas feature prominently in the folklore and mythology of human cultures with which they are sympatric. Hyenas are mostly viewed with fear and contempt, as well as being associated with witchcraft, as their body parts are used as ingredients in traditional medicine. Among the beliefs held by some cultures, hyenas are thought to influence people’s spirits, rob graves, and steal livestock and children.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA