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Hyenas or hyaenas (/ h aɪ ˈ iː n ə z / hi-EE-nəz; from Ancient Greek ὕαινα, hýaina) [1] are feliform carnivoran mammals belonging to the family Hyaenidae (/ h aɪ ˈ ɛ n ɪ d iː /). With just four extant species (each in its own genus), it is the fifth-smallest family in the order Carnivora and one of the smallest in the class ...
The spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), also known as the laughing hyena, [3] is a hyena species, currently classed as the sole extant member of the genus Crocuta, native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is listed as being of least concern by the IUCN due to its widespread range and large numbers estimated between 27,000 and 47,000 individuals. [ 1 ]
It is still unclear whether the genus evolved in Africa or Asia, although the oldest known fossils are from Africa and dated to about 3.8 mya. [1] The earliest remains from Asia currently attributed to the genus is Crocuta honanensis from the Early Pleistocene of China dating to around 2.5-2.2 million years ago, but its relationship to the living spotted hyena is ambiguous.
Trace of a 20,000-year-old spotted hyena painting from the Chauvet Cave, France. 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. [1]
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. Unlike werewolves and other therianthropes, which are ...
The cave hyena's diet probably differed little from contemporary African spotted hyenas, [11] and like living spotted hyenas, cave hyenas probably lived in groups (which in living spotted hyenas are called "clans") and were active predators rather than purely scavengers (with hunting being predominant over scavenging in the living spotted hyena ...
Season six of The Food That Built America will premiere on the History Channel on Sunday, February 23 at 9 pm EST. Plus, you can stream the series on the Roku Channel, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video ...
The striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena) is a species of hyena native to North and East Africa, the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. It is the only extant species in the genus Hyaena .