Hyenas! 12 Surprising Things You Didn’t Know, Plus Photo Gallery
Hyena fact 12: The ‘laugh’ of the spotted hyena actually indicates nervousness, not amusement.
Humans and hyenas
Although the hyena’s greatest enemy used to be the lion, it is now humans. Using a variety of methods, humans are the main source of hyena mortality in most regions.
- Poison: In retaliation for livestock depredation – whether actual or suspected – people lace a cow or other livestock carcass with poison and leave it out so hyenas will feed on it. This has been documented on a mass scale eastern Africa.
- Guns: Hyenas are shot on sight by many ranchers.
- Sport hunting: Every year, spotted hyenas are killed by sport hunters in various parts of Africa.
- Snares: Hyenas are caught by snares set in the fences of livestock corrals. If a hyena gets stuck in one of these, the tribesmen will spear or club the trapped hyena to death. Hyenas also are caught in bushmeat snares. They are killed when the bushmeat hunters check the traps. If a hyena does manage to escape, they usually die a slow death by strangulation.
Hyenas are killed inadvertently by cars when they attempt to feed on roadkill. Striped hyenas in parts of the Middle East, and spotted and striped hyenas near conflict zones in Africa have also become casualties of these war-torn areas.
Protecting hyenas
According to the IUCN Hyaena Specialist Group, misinformation about these animals is a serious obstacle to conservation efforts.
More myths have arisen in regard to hyaenas than perhaps any other animal in Africa (Glickman 1995). They are portrayed in a negative light in Western art and literature, they are mocked and derided by Hollywood producers, and they are feared and hated by many Africans today. This dark public image, born largely of ignorance, currently represents one of the most serious obstacles to the conservation of spotted and other hyenas (Mills & Hofer 1998).
Sadly, like so much of the planet’s remaining wildlife, the range size of all four hyena species is dwindling.
Habitat loss is having a major impact on the range size of all four extant members of the hyaena family. Specifically, if the ranges of the four hyaena species are compared between the late 1990s and a few decades earlier, rather shocking range contraction can be observed as more and more habitat becomes unsuitable for hyaena habitation.
To learn more about hyena conservation, visit the IUCN Hyaena Specialist Group.
Sources:
- IUCN Hyaena Specialist Group
- Predator Conservation
- Female Hyenas and Male Hormones, a strange combination
- Smithsonian Magazine
Images: istock.com unless otherwise noted.
