Maria, the same evening when you saw the hyenas outside the fence of Letaba, I heard them inside the fence of our township! They were not far away from our house and were giving their long drawn out cooooweeehp, but on other occasions I have heard them making quite a variety of sounds. They are very interesting animals and very often misunderstood by us humans.
The species we have here, is the spotted hyena (Crocuta) and long ago they ranged over most of Africa, excluding the rain forest in central Africa, as they are equally at home in the bush as in desert regions and they roamed from sea level to the snow line of Kilimandjaro in order to be able to do their work: removal of any dead animal (including humans), reptile, fish, or bird! They have very powerful jaws and can crush even the thick thigh bones of the buffalo and they eat the hides, bones and hooves of smaller animals. Where other predators, like lions and leopards, are plentiful, they will clean up after the lion prides have eaten their share, but they will chase away single lions, leopards, and cheetahs from their kills. If they can not find enough food by scavenging, they will hunt, singly or in packs and are known to have brought down sick of wounded buffalo, but their normal prey consists of the smaller antelopes, baboons, ostriches, tortoises, in fact, any meaty animal!
They are about the size of a largish dog, with a sloping back and much bigger neck, head, and jaws. The body colour is a variable buff to grey, sometimes even reddish brown and they have blackish spots over most of the body, and unlike dogs, they have only four toes on the front feet. Shoulder height is about 80 cm to 1 m and body mass around 45 to 55 kg, but up to 90 kg have been reported. When hungry, they can consume up to nearly a third of their body mass. The pups are nearly black when born, but after a few months the pelt becomes lighter and spotted. The pups are born underground and kept there for about six weeks.
Very interesting predators, the hyenas!
Oupa
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