Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The spotted hyena is very vocal, producing a number of different sounds consisting of whoops, grunts, groans, lows, giggles, yells, growls, laughs and whines. [47] The striped hyena is comparatively silent, its vocalizations being limited to a chattering laugh and howling. [48] Whoop of a spotted hyena in Umfolosi Game Park, South Africa.
The Beng people believe that upon finding a freshly killed hyena with its anus inverted, one must plug it back in, for fear of being struck down with perpetual laughter. They also view spotted hyena faeces as contaminating, and will evacuate a village if a hyena relieves itself within village boundaries. [ 4 ]
A hyena as depicted in a medieval bestiary. Werehyena is a neologism coined in analogy to werewolf for therianthropy involving hyenas.It is common in the folklore of the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and the Near East as well as some adjacent territories.
Zakariya al-Qazwini (1204–1283) wrote in Arabic of a tribe of people called "Hyena People". In his book Marvels of Creatures and the Strange Things Existing (عجائب المخلوقات وغرائب الموجودات), he wrote that should one of this tribe be in a group of 1,000 people, a hyena could pick him out and eat him. [48]
Werehyena - A creature that is part hyena, part human, or switches between the two. Werewolf – A creature that becomes a wolf/human-like beast during the nights of the full moon, but is human otherwise. Wyvern – A creature with a dragon's head and wings, a reptilian body, two legs, and a tail often ending in a diamond- or arrow-shaped tip.
The hyena men feed the hyenas by mouth, using pieces of raw meat provided by spectators. [3] Tourists usually organise to watch the spectacle through a guide for a negotiable rate. [4] As of 2002, the practice was on the decline, with only two practicing hyena men left in Harar. [3]
Claudius Aelianus (aka Aelian) in his book On the Characteristics of Animals (VII.22) specifically links the hyena and corocotta and mentions the creature's fabled ability to mimic human speech [3] Porphyry in his book On Abstinence from Animal Food (III.4), writes that "the Indian hyaena, which the natives call crocotta, speaks in a manner so ...
The spotted hyena has a long history of interaction with humanity; depictions of the species exist from the Upper Paleolithic period, with carvings and paintings from the Lascaux and Chauvet Caves. [17] The species has a largely negative reputation in both Western culture and African folklore. In the former, the species is mostly regarded as ...