Biology Report: Comprehensive Documentary on Hyenas' Interesting Facts

This report presents a comprehensive documentary on hyenas, delving into various aspects of their lives. It explores the diverse habitats of different hyena species, including spotted, striped, brown hyenas, and aardwolves, and highlights their adaptability. The report debunks misconceptions about hyenas, emphasizing their hunting prowess and intelligence, and details their complex social structures, including matriarchal clans and unique vocalizations. It discusses their physical characteristics, such as powerful jaws and unusual genitalia in females, and their historical range. The report also covers their diet, hunting techniques, and social behavior, offering a well-rounded understanding of these fascinating creatures. This report is a valuable resource for anyone interested in learning more about hyenas, with access to past papers and solved assignments on Desklib.

Video Title: “Documentary on Hyenas”
Word Counts: 2583 words.
Introductory Transition
The hyena may be Africa’s most maligned and misunderstood species. Widely
loathed as mangy, spiteful, sometimes coward, and sometimes evil, its ability to
arouse our collective contempt is unmatched among Africa’s mammals. Hyenas
have some unsavory habits, they are fascinating, even admirable. It seems they
may not be the simpering, sly grave robbers of popular lore, after all.
General;
In Africa the hyena is the most common large predator. You can easily find them
in safari. In this video we will talk about the 20 interesting facts about the hyenas.
Fact#1 Habitat
Habitat of hyenas depends on the types of the hyenas. Brown hyenas have a very
restricted up to small ranges and live only in Southern Africa, in the regions of the
Namib and Kalahari deserts. They are usually found near the Orange River in
South Africa. Spotted hyenas have a little bit bigger range and live up to the south
of the Sahara Desert. They occur all over sub-Saharan Africa, and are the most
abundant large predators in the Serengeti.
The striped hyena has the largest range of all kinds of the hyenas. It lives in
middle east, northeast Africa, and the Asia, all the way to southern Siberia.
Hyenas can adjust to almost any habitat and are found in plains, forests,
savannas, forest boundaries, sub-deserts and mountains upto 13,000 feet.
Fact#2 Life, weight and speed;

Hyenas can live up to 25 years in captivity and can they have weight between 110
and 190 pounds. They can run at a speed of 60 kilometers per hour. Their jaw and
skulls can take 7 to 10 years to get fully developed, long after they’ve reached
sexual maturity.
Transition;
The longest recorded living spotted hyena was in captivity and lived to 41 years
and 1 month old!
Fact#3 They are adept hunters
One of the longest standing false indictments against the hyena is that they are
pure scavengers. Mostly that they steal most of their food from higher predators
like lions etc. In fact, studies have exposed that 66 to 90% of hyena’s meal come
from the hunting and killing the preys, and when it comes to the actual hunt they
are very adaptable and successful hunters. As cursorial hunters, hyenas grasp
their prey till thier exhaustion. Hyenas can bring down prey many times their size,
they have been noted to kill cape buffalo and even the giraffes.
Fact#4 They are great mothers
Hyenas are surprisingly one of the best mothers in the animal realm, devoting
more energy per cub than any other terrestrial meat-eater. Hyenas give birth to 1
to 3 cubs. Hyena cubs are very “precocial”, meaning they are born in a extra
advanced stage of development like when they born thier eyes are open, teeth
intact, and muscles are ready to go, distinct many of the cat species where cubs
are born largely blind and weak for some weeks. Hyena mothers produce awfully
fat and protein-rich milk and they produce a lot of it for a long period. Hyena cubs
are totally reliant on on milk for the first six months of their lives and nurse up to
another year. All of that is a lot of pressure on a solo mother as hyenas do not like
to cross-suckle, even they are closely related females.

Spotted Hyenas typically give birth to young within den areas and then shift to a
“kindergarten” zone soon after. This allows them to meet other cubs and contest
for supremacy, without the helping hand of their mother.
Fact#5 They are amazingly intelligent
Maybe due to the misunderstanding of their laugh and snicker vocalization
hyenas are thought to be foolish, but hyenas show appalling signs of intelligence.
In fact, hyena intelligence is supposed to mimic the progress of our own
intelligence, with success through multifaceted social behaviors lashing brain
evolution. In tryouts hyenas out performed even chimpanzees like in the group
problem solving. Anyone who has spent any time with hyenas in the wild can
prove to their inquisitive and intrusive behavior. It is even observed elementary
tool-use by hyena to attain goals such as escaping from cage traps.
Fact#6 They can count
Studies have exposed that hyenas can determine the number of other hyenas in a
competing clan and choose their best course of action. Likewise, males who look
to join a novel clan will always join the clan having the smallest number of males
in the clan, after doing a quick census.
Fact#7 The females have complicated and unusual genitals
Debatably the worst false allegation against hyenas is that they are
hermaphrodites. This is totally false, but there's a very good reason why it was
thought to be true. Female hyenas do in fact have a both the pseudopenis and
pseduoscotum aspects, both of which are persuasively similar to male’s make-up.
The pseudopenis is in fact her clitoris, which has grown to mimic the male’s
anatomy with the whole urogential track running through it. Females tend to
urinate, do sex, and give birth to cubs b this structure. The reason for this male
mimicry is not completely known yet, but likely has its evolutionary antiquity
rooted in the advantages of looking like and even being confused as a male.

One idea is that during the time of hyena evolution, males hyenas were far more
violent, so much so that females who started to mimic them in look, size, and
even genital anatomy were more effective at passing on their genes.
Transition;
In case of spotted hyenas, females are larger than males and males are dominated
by females
Fact#8 They have powerful jaws
A bite of hyena can kill you and crush your bones. Hyena jaws have got the
colossal masseter muscles to be able to produce huge sums of force in a definite
section of their dentition; specifically, in the molars and premolars. With the
ability to force over 1,100 psi or around 9,000 newtons. Hyenas can crash and eat
open bones nearly 2.5 inches in diameter. This lets hyenas to eat the nutrient-rich
marrow
Fact#9 They have a history of conquering
Even in their current range, spotted hyenas are perhaps one of the most effective
large carnivores, ranging across the mainstream of continental Africa in a varied
range of habitats. Though, going back 10-20,000 years ago the Eurasian spotted
hyena, is just like the subspecies of the hyenas we see today, they extended from
the Eastern Siberia to British Isles. The hyena conquered large portions of three
continents and directly contended with humans for properties and caverns.
Transition;
It’s even thought that the occurrence of hyenas in Siberia prohibited the spread of
humans into the Americas across the Bering Strait!

Fact#10 They are tremendously socially complex
They live in social groups called clans that can have upto 130 entities, hyenas are
quite sociable. But, unlike a wolf pack or a lion pride, hyenas seldomly live all
together at once and are often found by living solo or in small groups, only
meeting for some time. This is called a “fusion-fission” social order.
These clans are made up of largely interrelated females who are the most
dominant and leading character, their cubs who takes on the second rank straight
below their mother, and non-natal males who have arrived from other clans once
after attainment of sexual maturity. These immigrant males take the lowest social
ranks, in order of their new arrival to the clan, and are even below the newborn
cubs in ranks, since rank is reinforced by the female hyenas. This type of linear
social ranking is extremely similar to old world monkeys, but the female
supremacy is quite exceptional for a large carnivore. Within the clan there is a
queen who is the most socially dominant female who leads the clan, but there is
also a multifaceted social network of bonds and even political coalitions, which
become even more ostensible when the matriarch dies and a power vacuum
arises.
Fact#11 Types
There are four distinct hyena species in the Hyaenidae family
There are four distinct species of the Hyaenidae family: the the Spotted hyena,
Striped hyena, the Brown hyena, and Aardwolf hyenas.
1. Spotted Hyena – This is the largest and biggest of all the types of hyenas
with 1.2 to 1.8 meters in body length, and with 40 to 86 kilograms in
weight. Spotted Hyenas are societal animals and live in clans, which can
have up to 80 members in total.
Transition
Spotted hyenas are known for their “laughs”, it makes human crazy.

2. Brown Hyenas – this is the second largest types of hyena, with the length
varying between 130 to 160 centimeters in length and assessing the 34 to
72.6 kilograms of weight. They usually forage alone and are mostly lonely in
their territories. These hyenas will occasionally form clans of up to 10
members.
3. The Striped Hyena – ranges between 100 to 115 centimeters in length.
Their tails are 30 to 40 centimeters long, and they can weight upto 26 to 41
kilograms. Once thought to be solitary, but striped hyenas in fact live in
small groups. Striped hyenas are mainly scavengers.
4. Aardwolves –are the smallest of the four types of hyenas with length
between the 85 to 105 centimeters and weighing from 8 to 14 kg. The
aardwolf was supposed to be a solitary animal, but studies have exposed
that they live in the monogamous sets with their young. Aardwolves are
insectivores and mostly eat termites.
Transition so if you have termites at your home, then bring an Aardwolves hyena
at your home.
Fact#12 Vocalization
The hyenas have a vocal range unlike any other carnivore, mainly in part due to
their complicated social nature. They are best known for their laugh and
sniggering, the spotted hyena is also called the “laughing hyena”, but there is fact
about their laugh, it isn’t funny, actually it’s an expression of social anxiety and
hesitation. The whoop is the next most communal call and one that is overheard
during the nights in places where they wander. There are in fact several different
whoops which mean different things. In general, it’s similar to a wolf’s howl as the
hyena uses this as a technique of distant communication that can foldaway upto 3
miles and also codes for the definite hyena's identity.
In total there are more than 11 distinct vocalizations, with some experts suing
there are as many as 28. Irrespective of the count, the presence of intricate and
diverse forms of vocal communiqué own by this intelligent animal.

Fact#13 Girls rule, by a long shot.
Hyena clans are matriarchies ruled by a single leading female. Females are
knowingly larger than males, produce more testosterone, are more violent, and
even grow “pseudo penises.” The lowest ranking members of a clan are the adult
males, who are the last to eat at a shared and are even enforced to bear abuse
from teen-agers. Females govern which males they mate with and when.
Fact#14 What do Spotted Hyenas eat?
As a predator, the Spotted Hyena eats the most meat out of all the hyena species.
An average meal for these veracious creatures can comprise up to 14.5kg meat
per day. Typical prey consists of wildebeest, zebra and several antelope, they are
known to steal a sheep when living near the livestock. When scavenging, Hyenas
can eat larger animals such as giraffes and elephants, and can completely digest
their bones.
Fact#15 SPOTTED HYENAS ARE CUNNING KILLERS.
Spotted hyenas don’t just scavenge for lion leftovers. Spotted hyenas search and
hunt in packs. Ninety-five percent of their food comes from hunting. A group of
hyenas can consume an entire zebra, leaving no scraps—not even the single flesh
on bones in just half an hour. However, this feeding fury comes at a cost hyena
fight and claw one another over the meal.
Transition. Striped hyenas are a different story. They feed on leftover. Striped
hyenas live off of carrion and you know most of them are often hit by vehicles
while eating road kill.

Fact#16 They occupy a strange and lonely branch on the tree of life
The family Hyaenidae has only four existing species (spotted hyenas, striped
hyena, aardwolf and the brown hyenas), which makes it the fifth smallest living
family in the entire order of meat eaters. Because of their fairly doglike
appearance, many people mistakenly accept that hyenas are closely related to
dogs and wolves. But, hyenas belong to the suborder Feliformia, which comprises
of catlike animals such as cats, civets and mongooses.
Fact#17 They are as tough as proverbial nails.
Hyenas seem to be able to eat pretty much anything, no matter how rotten or
decomposed the meal is, without getting sick. They’ve been seen eating months
old rotting remains that few other animals would come near for fear of getting
sick and getting an infection. But nature has given them this ability, that they are
pretty much immune from the devastating pandemics for example rabies, anthrax
etc.) that is the concerning issue for other Africa’s large mammals.
Fact#18 They have powerful enemies.
The spotted hyena faces many threats, among them humans, are potentially
lethal and their mortal enemy, than the lion. Lions and hyenas share a near
pathological hate for each other. A lion will every so often go out of its way and
interpret itself to grave danger for the chance to kill a hyena, and if he succeed in
killing them, lion will refuse to eat. On the other hand hyenas will gratefully return
the service if given the opportunity, especially when a lion cub is involved.
Transition
The power of hyenas big bite is 1000 psi, which is equal power of tiger, lion and
1/4 of crocodile.
Fact#19 Teeth

Hyenas have 32 to 34 teeth including conical premolars intended exactly for
cracking and crushing bone
Proudly part of the ‘Ugly Five’
We have to confess that hyenas aren’t closely the most fine-looking animals in the
African plains, and its looks saw it rated as one of Africa’s ‘Ugly Five’. They have
rightfully earned their Ugly Five listing.
Fact#20 Hyenas have white poo
Nothing goes to waste hyenas are factually trash sacks of the savannah as they
consume every inch of their prey, zero flesh is left behind for the other
scavengers. The amount of collagen eaten with bones, hooves and horns give the
white color to the hyena’s poo as compared to other carnivore poo. This makes
hyena manures easy to spot among the other carnivore droppings.
Fact#21 Conservation status
The Hyenas are known to be of Least Concern status on the IUCN Red List.
However, this number is decreasing as a result of poor public awareness that is
leading to persecution.
When living in an unprotected area, the Hyena is targeted by shooting, trapping,
and harming. This is because of concern that they can kill cattle’s, goats, sheep
and other livestock animals. Famine and deforestation may also be affecting the
Hyena by tumbling habitat, niche, and altering the food chain.
Increasing the degree of protected areas within the hyena domains and refining
the level of protection and implementation will be key to sustaining a healthy
population of hyenas in the long-term. The IUCN issued a “Hyena Status Survey
and Conservation Action Plan” back in 1998 that pursued to address persecution
and to indorse livestock protection plans for worried farmers. Numerous anti-
predation farming approaches have been trialed since its inauguration.

References
https://isafari.nathab.com/blog/seven-surprising-facts-about-the-strange-under-
appreciated-spotted-hyena/
https://factins.com/30-interesting-spotted-hyena-facts/
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/63455/12-wild-facts-about-hyenas
https://www.natgeokids.com/au/discover/animals/general-animals/spotted-
hyena-facts/
https://africantravelcanvas.com/experiences/safaris/african-animal-facts-
interesting-facts-about-hyenas/
https://www.balisafarimarinepark.com/facts-about-hyena/
https://yourafricansafari.com/articles/hyenas-10-fascinating-facts/
https://www.livescience.com/55037-hyenas.html