Hyenas: Unfairly Maligned as Devious

Spotted hyenas are in fact skilled hunters with a fascinating social system. Females are dominant within the group and display some typically male characteristics, including a «pseudo-penis».PseudopenisIn their habitat, hyenas play an important role as large predators and are frequently in direct competition with lions.

Not least because of films such as «The Lion King», hyenas are seen as ugly, cowardly, and conniving scavengers that are stupid and laugh foolishly. Anyone who takes a closer look at the fascinating biology of these wild animals will quickly find that these prejudices simply do not hold up.

OPPORTUNISTIC HUNTERS

Spotted hyenas are extremely skilled hunters. Depending on the region, they kill 60–95 percent of their own food themselves. However, they are also opportunistic and will eat carrion. Their diet is comparable to that of lions.

Spotted hyenas chase their prey over long distances at speeds of up to 55 kilometres per hour. The longest recorded chase covered 24 kilometres. After making a kill, hyenas consume as much meat as possible in the shortest time, as they face intense competition from members of their own species or from lions. Individual animals can devour up to 18 kilograms in a single meal.

Although spotted hyenas are highly social animals, they hunt alone in 75 percent of cases. Once a kill has been made, access is strictly regulated: high-ranking females and their young have priority over lower-ranking females, who in turn have priority over males.

FEMALES DOMINATE MALES

Within a so-called «clan» there is a clear hierarchical structure, both among females and among males. Spotted hyenas live in a matriarchally organized society. The rank of females within the group does not depend on an animal's physical strength, but on the rank of the mother. Young animals receive a social rank directly below that of their mother.

Females remain in the same social group for their entire lives. Males, on the other hand, leave the group at puberty and join a new group. Within that group, they always receive the lowest social rank. They can only move up through the death or disappearance of a higher-ranking male. Since females never leave the group, they are automatically dominant over the males who have immigrated.

MASCULINE FEMALES WITH A PSEUDOPENIS

The female spotted hyena possesses what is known as a pseudopenis. This consists of an enlarged clitoris and, when erect, is barely distinguishable from a male's penis. The origin and purpose of this unique organ have not yet been fully explained. The pseudopenis likely plays an important role in intraspecific communication and serves to reduce aggression. Since young are born through this pseudopenis, stillbirths occur frequently, particularly in young females giving birth for the first time.

Females mate with multiple males. In approximately one third of litters, siblings have different fathers. The first few days after birth, the young are kept in a separate den. After two to five weeks, they move into a communal den, where they live together with up to thirty young from other females. At eight to twelve months, they leave the communal den.