In the traditional African society, the Hyena
has been branded 'the coward one'.This has been due to the way of feeding of
the hyena. Known as a scavenger, the hyena is actually a great hunter and
scavenging only makes 5%- 10% of their meals.They rarely leave any evidence especially
because they devour everything. For example they can make a kill in the night
and the only sign will be light blood stains.
In the recent years the complexity of the
hyenas has been revealed. Lots of time has been dedicated to studying them.
This article is about hyenas and their survival tactics in the savannahs of
Kenya. They range throughout sub-Saharan Africa in savannah, arid areas, and
open woodlands. So far they aren't present at the coast.
There exist three species of hyenas in
Africa. Two species are found in Kenya.The most common being the spotted hyena,
crocuta crocuta.They live in groups called clans and the clan
is under the leadership of the oldest female, the alpha female. Interestingly,
the females are dominant over the males and are heavier than them. The females
genitalia are very masculinized which contributes to their being aggressive.
Such sex dimorphism is not common with other wildlife. This is due to the
presence of higher level of testosterone in the female's body than that of
the males.
A distinguishing feature with the hyenas is
the 'haunch-back' and short hind legs. They hold their head low when they walk.
Usually the head has a rounded skull and long ears. They have extremely strong
jaws and a complex acidic digestion system. This is one of the factors that
give them a step ahead for survival. They are capable of ingesting bones,
horns, hooves and the tough animal skins.
Only the hair is not digested and this usually
comes out in the form of bolus or locally referred to 'hyena hair ball'. All
this bone matter that they eat is what makes the hyena feces chalk-white.
They hunt in packs in a way that could be
termed as ruthless as they do not have a killing bite. They lack in hunting
technique and most cases they run down their victim to exhaustion. Usually they
attack their prey and tear chunks before their victim dies.
It is interesting to know that lions steal
lots of their kills. It is true that hyenas do the final cleaning by chewing
the bones and the skins left by others. In some cases the hyenas have succeeded
to steal from the lions but in most of occurrences the reverse is more common.
The reproduction and life cycle is not
seasonal. The females do not however mate with their members of the clan. They
can take any other wandering male for mating and discard him. Four months is
the gestation period and usually give birth to up to four cubs. These are
usually black in color with some others having small taint of black. A
weird thing that happens with the cubs is competition over who nurses first.
This in most cases result in fighting for
dominance. The looser usually starves to death and this is only with the female
cubs. Hyenas, unlike other wildlife take very long to wean their cubs. It may
take between 14-18 months. The female can lactate up to 12 months with milk
that is very high in protein percentage.( 14%). The cubs start following the
mother to the point of kill when they reach 1 year.They do not bring back food to the den. They
eat to their fill on the spot. The female cubs stay in the clan of their
birth but males are kicked out when they reach around 2 years. Apart from
playing with the cubs the male has no role in upbringing of the cubs.
One clan can have between 20-100 members, all
on the matriarchal system. All the members are related. Each clan digs its own
den which comprises of deep and long tunnels to accommodate the clan. They mark
their territory through anal sac secretions. This is a paste that they use to
define their boundary and is deposited at the edge of their territory. That is
their home-territory that they protect and intruders are not welcome. They have
a greeting system of sniffing each others genitalia and also as a way of
identification or recognition within members of the same clan.
To the untrained eye, it is difficult to
differentiate between males and females. This is because of the physical
resemblance of the female's genitalia to that of the male. But in any case they
are female organs. The females are not hermaphrodite as some have claimed at
first sight.
Hyenas have 'toilets' whereby all the members
go to deposit their dung. This adds to the boundary markings of their
territory.They communicate in a number of ways: When
about to attack the tail is held high, when it is held forward over the back,
it is a sign of excitement. And when frightened they hold the tail tucked
between the legs. When there is presence of food, this is the time you hear the
famous 'hyena laughter' especially in the night. This laughter is a call to other clan members and can be
heard up to 3
kilometers away.
It is important to note that though hyenas
portray cowardly behavior, they can be extremely dangerous. They should be left
alone, least intimidated and their respect awarded to them.
Peter K.
Philip
Adventure Kenya camping safaris,
Natural
Track Safaris
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