Hyenas have a reputation for being scavengers but, although a large part of their diet is made up of scavenged food, they are very capable hunters.

In some areas they hunt more than they scavenge. They will also steal carcasses from other predators, including lions. With lions they will only challenge for a carcass when males lions are not present.

Hyenas are also infamous for raiding park and camp rubbish bins and dumps.

These species are a female dominated society where the males play almost no role in the survival of a clan. The males’ only role seems to be to mate and even this is directed by the female. Females are noticeably larger than the males.

Hyenas were once thought to be hermaphroditic because the females possess pseudo male reproductive organs.

The hyena is, even today, one of nature's most misunderstood animals.

Hyenas have a wider range of calls than most animals with as many as eleven having been recorded. The calls vary from the characteristic contact whoop, and the giggling cackle of excitement to the low staccato growl of threat.

The hyena enjoy a reputation in many African cultures as harbingers of doom.

"When I first started watching hyenas I was not, I must confess, particularly fond of them – although from the start I was fascinated by their social behaviour."

-Jane Goodall in Innocent Killers

Scavengers

Many campsites in wilderness areas have hyenas that prowl around once everyone has settled down. During a safari in Botswana I came down with malaria and as this was my first bout, I was not too sure what it was. The guests had gone to bed and I settled down on a chair next to the fire. I drifted off into a world of bad dreams.

In what felt like a dream I awakened to see two hyenas staring intently at me from across the fire. It was a while before I realized where I was and the situation I had placed myself in. Groggily I stumbled to my bed.

It was not many years after this that a young boy was dragged out of his tent by a hyena in the same campsite. He had put meat outside his tent and left the flap open, hoping to get a picture of the hyena when it came to eat the meat. The boy fell asleep and an opportunistic hyena killed him, yanking him from the tent.

Warthogs and Hyenas

It's a known fact that hyenas prey a great deal on warthogs and I've seen amazing interactions between the two species.

I've watched hyenas rip the face off a warthog that had sped down a very shallow burrow. It could not get far enough down the hole and the hyenas proceeded to eat the parts they could reach. The blood was spurting and frothing from the face of the warthog but it did not give up. Eventually the hyenas moved off. During the night the warthog died from blood loss.

On numerous occasions I have watched warthogs chase off hyenas that had come too close.

Wild dog / hyena interaction

Wild dogs will generally get the better of hyena, deftly nipping at the hind quarters as the hyenas attempt to get away. When food is involved it is a different story where the hyenas will more often than not win a skirmish.

Scavengers and hunters

There is a general consensus that lions are the ultimate hunters and hyenas are scavengers. This perception is built up from the fact that when lions are feeding on a kill there will always be hyenas around waiting for the lions to move off.

The truth is somewhat different. Hyenas are deadly hunters in their own right and lions will often scavenge from them. In some parts of Africa the majority of lions’ diet is made up from scavenging from other predators, whereas hyenas diets are made up of prey that they have hunted themselves.