Spotted hyenas - our favorite predator

 Michael - Alt Thursdays

Most people dismiss hyenas as scavengers and even call them cowardly. Certainly they scavenge. They are willing to eat anything that is, or once was, flesh and bone. Especially bone. Their jaws can crunch them to powder, and their stomachs can digest and dissolve the calcium in strong acids. It's easy to recognize their feces as they appear white or grey from all that calcium.

However, the spotted hyena is primarily a predator. On their own they will hunt small animals or young ones - basically anything they can catch. But once they team up they'll go for much larger prey.

All the better to eat you with!

I’ve spent a night in the Kalahari with a hyena researcher following a group of seven of them. They seem to tirelessly cover the veld just loping along until one catches a scent, and then they suddenly all turn and race off in the same direction. During that night they had a go at an eland — that proved too much for them, chased a lioness up an acacia tree and circled the base with their tails up like dogs around a treed cat, and eventually pulled down a wildebeest.

Taking on a Gemsbok at night

And a lioness

In Botswana, Stan and I witnessed a much larger pack pull down a wildebeest and completely consume it over a period of a few hours. Everything is eaten except the horns and hooves. Watching that was what sparked the idea of destroying a body that way for the perfect murder, and eventually led to our first novel, A Carrion Death. When our third book, Death of the Mantis, won the Barry Award for best paperback original mystery of the year, we publicly thanked the hyenas for their encouragement.

Spotted hyenas have a very complex social structure. The females are larger and almost always form the leaders of the pack or clan. It's a competitive world, with access to kills and mating opportunities depending not only on the ability to dominate others in the clan but also on forming alliances. Leadership is usually based on the strongest alliance. 

The females build dens - often co-opted burrows - and look after the young. The males don't help and neither do other females. No "one for all and all for one" here. Their hunting, however, is cooperative and shows a lot of aggression. No cowards here either. However, the social bonds are important. Hyenas like to spend time resting together and communicating with each other in various ways. 

Even more surprising is that hierarchy usually depends on inheritance. The matriarch's cubs will generally supply the new matriarch when she dies. Presumably, the matriarch favours her cubs and so raises their status in the clan. If a male leads, he will be one of her cubs too. Males tend to hang out with their adult daughters, and the daughters tend to be more accepting of them.

In modern times, it's unusual for hyenas to attack humans, but they are certainly partial to human corpses. Some cultures even put out the bodies of the dead for hyenas to dispose of, sometimes even dressing them with blood or fat to try to lure hyenas. The hyenas are happy to co-operate in general, but may reject the odd human body, apparently a very bad and embarrassing omen.

Surprisingly, spotted hyenas have a reputation for making good pets. They socialize easily with people, but they are not easy to house train and have a strong scent which they use to mark their territories. Not ideal. 

There is even a city where spotted hyenas have become welcome nightly visitors. Although they are totally wild—in the sense that they live outside in the surrounding bush and come and go exactly as they please, they come through the city to clean up, accept offerings, be admired by tourists, and socialize with their favorite people—the ones who feed them (who are designated by the city).

The ancient city wall of Harar

Shewaber gate

The city of Harar itself is interesting. Situated in eastern Ethiopia near Somalia and the horn of Africa, it was established as a walled city in 1551 and is one of the earliest Muslim centers of importance, supposedly fourth after Mecca. Now about a quarter of a million people live in the city and surrounds. And beyond that, the hyenas live.

'Hyena man' with a friend

Don't try this at home...

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Michael and Stanley will be at CRIMEFEST in Bristol from the 15^th to the 18^th of May. We’d love to see you at one or more of the panels we’ll be on.

THURSDAY 14:40 – 15:30

Murder is Everywhere: Evil Crimes in Foreign Climes

Heidi Amsinck, Michael Ridpath, Jeffrey Siger, Ovidia Yu

Participating Moderator: Michael Stanley (Stan Trollip)

 

THURSDAY 15:50 – 16:40

Dark Pasts and Dark Presents: Secrets and Lies

Samantha Lee Howe, M.A. Hunter, Alison Joseph, Michael Stanley (Michael Sears)

Participating Moderator: Caro Ramsay

 

FRIDAY 14:50 – 15:40

One of A Kind: Atypical Characters

Paul Durston, Christina Koning, Tom Mead, Bridget Walsh

Participating Moderator: Michael Stanley (Michael Sears)

 

SATURDAY 13:40 – 14:30

Not All 999: Police Procedurals Across Time and Place

Tana Collins, Mark Ellis, Sólveig Pálsdóttir, Michael Stanley (Stan Trollip)

Participating Moderator: Jeffrey Siger