Hyenas

Alex Re (00:01): Hello, welcome to On Wildlife. I'm your host Alex Re. On this podcast, we bring the wild to you. We take you on a journey into the life of a different animal every week, and I guarantee you you'll come out of here knowing more about your favorite animal than you did before. This week we're going to talk about one of the top predators in Africa. These guys definitely have a bad reputation that they don't deserve, and they've got a bunch of really cool adaptations, even though it may make them look a little strange. So make sure you keep all your hands and feet inside of our metaphorical vehicle because we're heading over to the wilderness of Africa to talk about hyenas.

(00:58): Before we start this episode, I want to give a big thanks to Maria from the UK for suggesting an episode on hyenas. Hyenas belong to the family hyena day, of which there are four different species depending on who you ask. Only three of the species are true hyenas. These species are the spotted brown and striped hyena as well as an animal called the r Wolfard. Wolves are kind of the odd ones out, so I won't be going into too much detail about them during this episode. Besides they deserve an episode on their own, hyena day is the fifth smallest family in the order carnivore, and while they look like dogs, they're more closely related to mongooses and cats. Now each species has different behaviors and characteristics, so I'm going to try to touch on all of them as best I can. The largest of these four species is the spotted or laughing hyena, which is probably what you were thinking when you clicked on this episode.

(01:59): These hyenas reach a size of up to three feet tall at the shoulder and can grow up to 200 pounds. They can be distinguished by their spotted coat. The spotted hyena inhabits all of Africa, south of the Sahara Desert, excluding the Congo Rainforest and the southernmost countries of Africa. And even though modern spotted hyenas are only found in Africa, there's significant fossil evidence that they once also inhabited Europe, Asia, and even North America. The brown hyena is the second largest species in the family reaching a little over two and a half feet at the shoulder and getting up to 160 pounds. The brown hyena inhabits Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa, just south of the spotted hyena. The brown hyena can be distinguished by its long brown shaggy fur striped hyenas are about half the size of spotted hyenas reaching about two feet at the shoulder and a little over 90 pounds.

(03:03): This species inhabits the Sahara desert as well as throughout the Middle East and even in parts of India. Due to the negative perception many people have of hyenas, some species face heavy hunting pressure hyenas are blamed for the disappearances of children, livestock, death, and digging up graves, and because of this, they've been hunted to extinction in certain parts of their range, even though they might not have anything to do with it. We'll talk more about their conservation status later on in the episode. And now let's take our first break, but stay tuned because when we get back we'll start talking about hyena's interesting diets. The science word that I want to tell you about today is d n a methylation. This is a process that can cause D N A to change what it codes for in the body. This means that it can cause a change in your traits throughout your life. It's usually not a good thing and can be caused by eating certain things, smoking cigarettes or being exposed to different chemicals.

(04:27): Okay, welcome back. All hyena species are both active predators and scavengers. Depending on the situation, some are more predator than scavenger and vice versa. Hyenas have gotten a bad reputation as strictly scavengers only stealing their food from other animals, and this could not be further from the truth. In fact, it's been shown that specifically spotted hyenas will actually hunt between 65% and 90% of the food that they eat. It's also been shown that lions actually steal more food from hyenas than the other way around, which isn't the impression you get from watching the Lion King. All hyena species can digest skin and bone because of the special acid in their stomach. Because they're one of the few animals that can do this, they filled out a really unique niche in their environment. This ability to eat and digest bones really comes in handy, especially in times where food is scarce.

(05:28): They'll also attempt to eat horns, hooves, and hair, but they can't digest. These spotted hyenas will attack and eat both injured and healthy animals of many varieties. They'll attack baby hippos, zebras, even fish and insects. The size of prey depends on the number of individuals in the group and they can eat up to one third of their body weight at one time. Hyenas not only have speed, they also have stamina to keep up with their prey over long distances. They can run at speeds of up to 40 miles per hour for over three miles. There are two main reasons why hyenas can keep up such an intense chase, and the first reason is their large heart. A hyena's heart can constitute up to 1% of their body weight, making long distance chases much easier. Human hearts make up less than half a percent of our body weight.

(06:26): The other reason has to do with the length of their legs. You may have noticed that hyena's front legs are much longer than their hind legs, and because of this they have what's called eloping gate. The eloping gate is much better at saving energy than the other ways that animals run, making them capable of hitting those long distances. All of the hyena species also have very large heads and jaws. This is because of their feeding practices. Their jaws are attached to extremely powerful muscles, giving them an incredible bite force. In fact, they have the eighth strongest bite force in the animal kingdom at 1,100 pounds per square inch. The way that the jaws are structured places the most force on certain teeth, the molars and premolars that are specially designed to crush hard material. This makes it possible for hyenas to crush bones of up to two and a half inches in diameter.

(07:30): Brown hyenas of the Kalahari desert specifically will make great use of their strong jaws during the dry season when food's hard to come by, these hyenas will eat anything edible that they come across, including carcasses and bones that are weeks or months old. There have been reports showing brown hyenas eating bones from the previous dry season. Brown hyenas are not as active of predators as spotted hyenas, but they'll still hunt for smaller prey like small mammals, reptiles, and ostrich eggs. Striped hyenas also share a similar feeding style as brown hyenas, but they're the most scavenger based of the hyena species and they'll also hunt small prey. All species of hyena have very complex mating practices with some being more complex than others, the spotted hyenas mating is affected by social rank and food availability. In areas where food is abundant, females will breed often and have no real mating season.

(08:32): These hyenas are also polygamous and will have multiple partners in a short amount of time. In spotted hyena society, the females are ranked higher than the males, and this means that they have all the power to choose who they mate with. After mating, female hyenas will go through a gestation period of around three and a half months, and after that, they'll give to anywhere between one and four cubs. When a mother hyena gives birth, she does so in isolation away from the rest of the group. After the cub has been born, she'll then move it to a communal den with her other cubs. These dens are not built by the hyenas themselves, but are abandoned by other animals. During the first six months of their lives, the cubs will feed only on their mother's milk. Spotted hyena milk actually has the highest protein content of any terrestrial mammal, and they'll nurse only their young, not the young of others.

(09:35): After the six month mark, the cubs will begin to eat meat from kills, but they'll still continue to drink their mother's milk until they're about 14 months old. Spotted hyena cubs have an extremely rough beginning of their life and they're born hyper-aggressive. They're already born with fur, open eyes and teeth, and they immediately begin fighting to assert dominance. Offspring of higher ranking females are born even more hyper aggressive than the other offspring. This is because higher ranking females have a higher quality diet and studies have shown that they provide their cubs with a surge of androgen. This hormone is associated with aggression. A hyena cubs place in the group is predetermined by their rank. Things such as access to a kill, how they eat and how they fight are all determined by rank at birth. Because of this half of all spotted hyena cubs don't make it to maturity.

(10:36): Brown hyenas also have a very complex mating and reproductive life, but are quite different from the other species. Brown hyenas actually have two different types of mating systems that they'll use in different circumstances. One of these is known as polygenists, and this is essentially where the females in the clan will mate with the alpha male. The other is known as a polyamorous system, and this is where the females will m mate with nomadic males of the area, brown hyenas have a regular mating season that usually occurs between the months of May and August, and this coincides with the dry season in Africa. The mating during the dry season is probably so that hyena cubs are born into the wet season where food is more plentiful. Brown hyena mothers will wait to bring their cubs to the communal den for a much longer period of time.

(11:28): Compared to the spotted hyenas, they wait about three months. In this communal den, the cubs will be nursed not only by their own mother, but other females of the clan, and this is not seen in other hyena species. Brown hyena cubs develop much faster than spotted hyenas. With cubs eating meat from kill's as early as three months old and they're fully independent by 15 months. There's much less information on the striped hyena than the other two species. From current research, it's believed that striped hyenas mate quite often, much more often than the other species. It's also known that the females mate with multiple males in a short period of time. Like many other mammals, striped hyenas are born without teeth and with closed eyes. This is probably because striped hyenas don't face an early life that's as competitive as spotted hyenas. The cubs will open their eyes, walk and grow teeth as soon as two weeks of age. Okay, let's take our last break. After this we'll talk more about their social structure and the importance on the ecosystems that they live in. Time for today's trivia question, where is the hottest place on earth?

(13:05): The answer is Death Valley, California. It reached 134 degrees Fahrenheit in July of 1913.

(13:22): Alright, welcome back. So as you can tell, all species of hyenas have complex social structures. Spotted hyenas live in the largest groups out of the three species and groups of up to 130 individuals. These groups are called clans. Spotted hyenas have adopted a matriarchal society in which there's an alpha female that leads the group. In spotted hyena society, the lowest ranked female is still higher in rank than the highest ranked male and males that are born into the clan are ranked the lowest even lower than the males that have joined from other clans. Low ranking males are not allowed to be near the clan and live on the outskirts until they're needed for a hunt or for a defense. Since this is a matriarchal society, the females are usually much larger and more aggressive than males. Brown hyenas, on the other hand, have adopted the opposite style of social structure.

(14:22): They have a patriarchy brown hyenas live in clans that are nowhere near as large as spotted hyenas. The clans usually only have between five and 15 members, while brown hyenas do technically live in clans and under a patriarchy with an alpha male. They live in much looser groups than spotted hyenas. They live a more fusion fission lifestyle where individuals will split off from the main group for months at a time. Specifically in the dry season, members of the clan will go off on their own as to not compete with one another for food. In the wet season, they'll come back together. The alpha male of the clan is usually a male from a different clan who is taking control through battle, and many males that have not become an alpha male live a nomadic lifestyle. About three in five males are nomadic and just like their reproduction, not much is truly known about the mysterious striped hyena.

(15:23): They were at first thought to be completely solitary animals, but recent research has shown that they live in loosely structured groups of up to seven individuals. They likely have a very similar social structure to brown hyenas. One of the most well-known characteristics of a hyena is the sound it produces that makes it appear that it's laughing. It's not a laugh though. This vocalization is a way of letting other individuals know that a kill has been made and that they're ready to eat, and they actually have some of the most complex vocalizations of all large carnivores. They're the most vocal mammals in Africa. Spotted hyenas have at least 11 unique vocalizations. Hyenas also have a great sense of smell and can identify different members of the clan using odor. It's also helpful in finding nearby prey, even though we might fear them. Hyenas are really important to the ecosystems that they're a part of.

(16:23): First, they keep populations of other animals in check by preying on them. They actually strengthen their prey by eating the least healthy members of the population. Hyenas are also kind of like decomposers. Remember when I told you that they can eat bones that helps to clean up the ecosystem, which actually prevents the spread of disease in all animals. But unfortunately, striped and brown hyenas are on the I U C N list classified as near threatened. This is mainly because of habitat loss and poaching, of course caused by humans. Luckily, there are some organizations that are helping hyenas and the environments that they live in. If you want to help, you should check out the African Wildlife Foundation, Goran Goro Hyena Project and Born Free Foundation. Thank you so much for coming on this adventure with me. As we explore the world of hyenas, you can find the sources that we use for this podcast and links to organizations that we reference at onwildlife.org. You can also email us with any questions at On Wildlife dot podcast@gmail.com, and you could follow us on Instagram at On Wildlife or on TikTok at Wildlife. Don't forget to tune in next month for another awesome episode, and that's on

Jess Avellino (17:54): You've Been Listening to On Wildlife with Alex Re. On Wildlife provides general educational information on various topics as a public service, which should not be construed as professional financial, real estate tax, or legal advice. These are our personal opinions only. Please refer to our full disclaimer policy on our website for full details.