Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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]
Spotted hyena killing a blue wildebeest. Unlike other large African carnivores, spotted hyenas do not preferentially prey on any species, and only African buffalo and giraffe are significantly avoided. Spotted hyenas prefer prey with a body mass range of 56–182 kg (123–401 lb), with a mode of 102 kg (225 lb). [11]
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.
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.
Other bone remains came from woolly rhinos, yaks, small mammals like marmots, birds, and even from the spotted hyena, a large carnivore that prowled the region called the Ganjia Basin.
One of the "hyena men" feeding a spotted hyena. Written records indicate that spotted hyenas have been present in the walled Ethiopian city of Harar for at least 500 years, where they sanitise the city by feeding on its organic refuse. [1] The practice of regularly feeding them did not begin until the 1960s.
The mammalian pseudo-penis appears to be simply for display, though the spotted hyena is an exception: the female spotted hyena urinates, copulates, and gives birth through her pseudo-penis. This prevents males from mating without the full co-operation of females, which means that mating preferences of the female are predominant.
Spotted hyena attacks on humans are underreported. During 1960 coup and the Red Terror, [10] hyenas were reported extensively fed on human corpses. In El Kere and Bare of south-eastern Ethiopia, 50 people were attacked by hyena in the year 1998/1999, of which of majority of them (35 out of 55) were children.