The “Laughing” Hyena and His Kin
IT IS night. Overhead is a silvery moon. In its soft light, the rocks, the trees—the countryside in general—appear quite tranquil. But suddenly you hear an eerie sound! It seems like wild, hysterical human laughter! Surely, that jangles your nerves!
But it is not some man or woman out there in the wilderness. Nobody you know has just gone insane. That ‘hysterical laughter’ has come from another source. Like it or not, you have heard the weird, unnerving howl of the “laughing” hyena.
This may be your first “encounter” with this strange animal. You may be wondering, How and why do some hyenas “laugh”? Probably you have heard stories about hyenas. But where does myth leave off and fact begin? For instance, some say that certain hyenas can change their sex at will. Is that true? Many persons say that these animals are mere scavengers, but others call them predatory hunters. Who is right? It has been said that hyenas will attack and kill humans. Is that a fact? What are hyenas really like?
First, a Description
Hyenas look like large dogs. But they are not related to dogs. Hyenas belong to the scientific family Hyaenidae. Three species have been identified: The spotted, or laughing, hyena (in Africa, south of the Sahara desert); the striped hyena (found from northern Africa through Asia Minor and into India); and the brown hyena (of southern Africa).
The spotted, or laughing, hyena has yellowish-gray fur with black or brown spots. A grayish coat with black or brown stripes is “worn” by the striped hyena. And the brown hyena is dark brown, with grayish fur on the neck and the lower part of the legs. Both the striped and brown hyenas have long-haired manes.
While there are variations according to species, in general the hyena has fairly large ears and a massive head. Its shoulders are higher than its hindquarters. The animal has long front legs, short hind legs and a sloping back. Each foot has four toes, and the claws are nonretractile. This creature paces like a camel, its fore and hind legs on each side moving ahead together. The male spotted, or laughing, hyena may be 3 feet (1 meter) high at the shoulders. His body may be 5 feet (1.5 meters) long, not counting a 13-inch (33-centimeter) tail. And he may weigh as much as 180 pounds (82 kilograms). Interestingly, a spotted hyena kept in the Berlin Zoo lived for forty years. And, can you imagine? Tame hyenas delight in being petted.
But do not overlook the hyena’s powerful teeth and jaws. “These sturdy, unhandsome beasts are the bone-crunchers of the animal kingdom,” it has been said. “Their teeth are massive and their jaws powerful enough to crack and crush the thigh bones of large animals like the zebra and even the buffalo.” (The Animal Kingdom) The jaws of the spotted hyena “are probably the most powerful in proportion to size of any living mammal,” says The International Wildlife Encyclopedia. These animals can crush bones that lions are unable to break, and they eat the marrow. The smaller brown and striped hyenas do not have the same bone-crunching capability.
Hunters or Mere Scavengers?
Obviously, then, the spotted, or laughing, hyena is a strong creature. Normally, it spends the daylight hours slumbering, perhaps either in its lair amidst dense vegetation, inside a dark cave, or in some hole above ground. In the lair, one may find this nocturnal animal’s booty likely the bones of some animal, or maybe even part of a human skull stolen from a cemetery.
Since the hyena possesses a very keen sense of smell, it can detect the carcass of a dead animal at a great distance. Possibly, it is the body of a creature that has been killed by lions or wild dogs. Drawn by the scent, a solitary hyena, or a large pack, may search out the carcass. (Eighty to one hundred spotted hyenas may make up a pack living in a well-defined territory and sharing a den having a maze of underground holes and passageways.) If the pack smells a carcass, or if vultures are circling above it, the hyenas are ready to gorge themselves on the dead animal.
Do not think of the hyena as a mere scavenger, however. Dutch scientist Hans Kruuk and his wife, working in Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Crater, have proved that spotted hyenas do prey on other animals. Kruuk writes: “At first Jane and I, like most people, thought of hyenas as scavengers dependent on kills made by braver animals. But after watching the packs in action, we realized they are also highly efficient predators, living mostly on wildebeests and zebras. And their hunting skills serve not only themselves, as we saw in dozens of encounters, but also the lions. Ngorongoro’s lions, unlike those elsewhere, seldom hunt. Instead, they plunder hyena kills, guided to the feast by the eerie ‘laughter’ of the feeding pack. Hyenas will abandon a kill to several marauders, but often defend it against a solitary intruder. Once we watched a whooping mob drive a lioness off their kill, snapping at her rump until she fled, growling, into the bush.”—The Marvels of Animal Behavior.
So, hyenas are both scavengers and predators. A pack of spotted hyenas may harass a group of zebras, for instance. Often, but not always, they will concentrate on lame, sick or young animals. The hyenas are persistent and usually get their quarry. (If human settlement has driven wild animals from an area, great hunger may cause spotted hyenas to prey upon domestic sheep or cattle.) Sometimes they hunt alone, but they are more successful as a group. Spotted hyenas are so strong that they have been known to drag away the body of an ass.
It is not beyond hyenas to take advantage of an unusual situation in order to get food. As ‘garbage collectors,’ striped hyenas do quite well. The walls of certain African villages have holes through which these hyenas enter at night to consume refuse that the villagers cast from their huts. By morning, it is said, only some slivers of bone remain.
Concerning the spotted, or laughing, hyena, Dr. Bernhard Grzimek reports: “Hordes of hyenas lived off the refuse from the Mbagathy slaughterhouse (near Nairobi) during World War I. At the time only the meat of cattle was processed by slaughterhouses; the viscera, bones, and heads were thrown away. After that war ended, slaughtering operations ceased, and the hyenas had to find new sources of food. They bit the brushes off brooms, dragged pots away, chewed and swallowed leather goods including shoes, bicycle seats, and sweaty hat bands, rummaged through garbage cans, and even killed several women working in fields.”
A Killer of Humans?
Yes, hyenas have been known to kill humans! This is so where land has been cleared or wild animals no longer are in the area. Seldom will spotted hyenas attack people during the daylight hours. At night, however, when natives may sleep outdoors because of the heat, often they have been attacked by hyenas. Since the assailants generally go for the victim’s face, some persons have horrible scars to show for these encounters. “Also,” states The Animal Kingdom, “it is a common practice in many parts of Asia and Africa for natives to move aged people, about to die, out of their huts and villages. Being superstitious about death, the natives never let it happen in their dwellings. The old people are left to meet their end out in the open, and we cannot be surprised if the hyena does not turn up its nose at such golden opportunities. Many times the beast has been reported as a graverobber.”
Taking sensible precautions against molestation by this bone-crusher is not unwise. On the other hand, if the striped hyena is cornered by dogs, it chooses flight instead of a fight. But if unable to get away, this hyena may foil the dogs by playing dead. Then, with its enemies off guard, the hyena is likely to jump to its feet and bound away to safety. And what a burst of speed! As much as 40 miles (64 kilometers) per hour!
Is the Hyena Bisexual?
Legend has it that spotted hyenas are able to assume, at will, either the role of the male or that of the female. True, the external reproductive organs of both sexes have a similar appearance. But is this animal bisexual?
One medical doctor shot a spotted hyena and, upon dissection, found that this male had rudimentary female sexual organs. Another hyena that he shot was a female, but it had rudimentary male organs. Reportedly, rudimentary sex organs of both male and female were noted in yet another full-grown spotted hyena. Another man reported that he had a hyena that had both fathered and mothered at least a litter. However, it has been suggested that possibly the three animals examined by the doctor were not adults. Also, The Animal Kingdom states:
“A report, based on observations on mating spotted hyenas in zoological gardens, by Karl M. Schreeder, published in 1952, seems to prove conclusively that this animal is not bisexual.
“In embryo, a mammal is potentially both male and female; as it develops, one sex becomes dominant. Nature has its imperfect products, and there may be signs of maleness and femaleness together in one animal. Such a creature is never capable of the functions of both sexes, and is usually incapable of the functions of either.”
So, the female hyena is the one that bears the offspring. In the case of the spotted, or laughing, hyena, one or two (occasionally three) young ones are born after a gestation period of 99 to 110 days. Incidentally, the little ones are born completely furred. Also, their eyes are open and they are able to run immediately after their birth.
What About That Eerie “Laugh”?
By now you may have gathered that not all these animals are called “laughing” hyenas. That distinction is reserved for the spotted hyena of Africa. Therefore, to hear its eerie howl most persons will have to do some traveling.
The brown hyena does not laugh, but emits a melancholy cry, “wah-wah-wah.” For that matter, the laughing hyena produces many sounds. Generally, its howl rises from a low, sad tone to a high, shrill sound. Though wolves bay with their heads raised toward the moon, the spotted hyena keeps its head close to the earth and lets out a long, rather soft sound. But upon approaching a carcass, this hyena’s howl becomes eerie, indeed. Since the animal is a ventriloquist of sorts, it is hard to know just where that weird sound is originating. It may fool you for a while because of resemblance to wild, hysterical human laughter. But, sooner or later, you probably will realize that you have heard the chilling cry of a champion bonecrusher—the “laughing” hyena.