What Animal Is A Hyena Related To

Spotted Hyena

Spotted Hyena (Crocuta crocuta)

Type: Mammal
Family: Hyaenidae
Habitat: Savanna, semi-desert, and other dry out, open areas
Location: Sub-Saharan Africa, except for tropical rainforests
Diet: Antelopes and other large ungulates. Besides carrion, bone marrow, and basic
Average lifespan in the wild: 19 years
Size: Caput and torso length 37.iv-59 in (95-150 cm); height at shoulder 29.5-33.5 in (75-85 cm)
Weight: 120-190 lbs (55-85 kg) for females; 100-135 lbs (45-60 kg) for males

Different the iii other species in the family Hyaenidae, spotted hyenas are expert hunters. They do scavenge sometimes, just — reverse to popular conventionalities — spotted hyenas catch about 95 percent of their food. Spotted hyenas are both the most abundant and the near successful large predator in Africa. Built for endurance, spotted hyenas oft hunt in packs, chasing prey to the point of exhaustion. So the hyenas movement in and use their powerful jaws and strong teeth to bring the hunted animal downwardly. Packs of spotted hyenas can bring down an animal equally big every bit a giraffe, a zebra, or fifty-fifty an African Greatcoat buffalo.

Spotted hyenas have very powerful shoulders and front legs, but their hindquarters are non every bit well developed, giving the hyena its sloping advent. Its head is very large, and its jaws are potent enough to split open rhino bones and excerpt the marrow. The ears are rounded, and the neck long and muscular. Each spotted hyena has a unique spot design, although spots tin can fade with historic period, peculiarly in females. Females are most ten percent larger than males, and are also more aggressive.

Spotted hyenas are more closely related to cats than dogs, despite their domestic dog-like appearance. Their closest relatives are actually mongooses and civets. Unlike all other carnivores, spotted hyenas have a complex social arrangement where animals alive in female-dominated clans of upwardly to 90 individuals. To live and interact in such a large clan requires a bang-up deal of social intelligence.

These clans closely resemble the social systems of old world primates such as baboons and macaques, where the social rank of a female is solely adamant by the social status of its mother. Age, size, and fighting power play no role in determining the hierarchy, and females on the pinnacle of the social ladder have priority admission to nutrient. To cope with competition for food, spotted hyenas spend most of their time in subgroups. Even though the whole clan is rarely seen together, each individual can recognize the identity and social rank of every other fellow member of the clan. Spotted hyenas utilize various different vocalizations to communicate identity and social status, including whoops, growls, groans, and submissive giggles.

Having and so many individuals in a clan helps spotted hyenas defend large home ranges, up to twoscore square miles. They marking their territory with feces and urine and oft patrol their borders. Large clashes or wars betwixt clans over territory tin can occur. Males in the clan are mainly immigrants and always enter at the bottom of the hierarchy, below the lowest females. Only by making alliances with females can males mate; higher-ranking females choose to mate with males that accept been in the clan for the longest. Convenance occurs throughout the yr, and females requite birth to 1 to iv offspring per litter, though twins are most mutual.

Did you know: The female person spotted hyena has an enlarged clitoris or pseudo-penis and fused labia housing two pouches of fatty tissue that closely resemble a male scrotum. These features make the sexual practice organs of the female near indistinguishable from the male.

Photo by Stig Nygaard, Flickr

Source: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/animal-guide-spotted-hyena/3297/

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