WildlifeCampus – The Behaviour Guide to African Carnivores 1
Module # 3 – Component # 2
Striped hyaena
Hyaena hyaena
TRAITS
A long-haired hyaena with stripes and big, pointed ears.
Height and weight: 65 - 80 cm and 25 - 45 kg, average 26 - 27 kg, males slightly
heavier than females. Rangy build with long limbs and neck, pronounced slope
from shoulders to hindquarters, large head with robust teeth.
Coat: 7 cm and mane up to 20 cm long.
Colouration: grey to straw-coloured with bold black markings: muzzle, 2 cheek
stripes, throat, body, and leg stripes, torso stripes partly obscured by the mane;
cubs like adults but maneless with black spinal stripe.
Scent glands: anal pouch equally developed in both sexes.
Mammae: 6.
DISTRIBUTION
From central Tanzania through drier parts of eastern and northern Africa, the
Middle East, and Asia north to the Caucasus and southern Siberia; occurs up to
3300 m in Pakistan.
ECOLOGY
A denizen of arid, often mountainous wastelands through most of its range, in
East Africa the striped hyaena frequents Acacia/Commiphora scrub woodland
and thornbush, avoiding the more open grassland habitats preferred by the
spotted hyaena. It dens in rocky hills, kopjes, and ravines.
Striped hyaena © WildlifeCampus
WildlifeCampus – The Behaviour Guide to African Carnivores 2
Like the brown hyaena, it scavenges but rarely hunts large or medium-sized
species, and kills small animals opportunistically, supplementing its diet with
fruits (especially Balanites, the desert-date) and insects. It drinks regularly when
it can but can live in waterless areas.
SOCIAL ORGANISATION
Largely unstudied, but probably similar to the brown hyaena (see species
account); solitary forager with family social organisation, young provisioned at
communal den, with help from older offspring.
Striped hyaenas forage individually and are rarely seen together. The species
has therefore been considered solitary. However, it is known to associate in
family groups that may include offspring of different ages. Subadults participate
in feeding younger siblings by bringing surplus food back to a central den. Five
Israeli dens that were investigated all had accumulated animal remains. A
boneyard of 40 m2 covered the floor of one maternity cave; a 2 m2 sample
contained 267 pieces from 57 different individuals.
Thus the striped hyaena is actually a social carnivore whose dependence on
dispersed, small food items favours solitary foraging. But whether it ever lives in
clans including several adults of both sexes like the brown hyaena remains to be
seen. In captivity, a male and female peacefully share the same enclosure, lie in
contact, and lick one another, but females older than 15 months are mutually
intolerant.
The home ranges of one radio-collared Serengeti female and male were 44 and
72 km2, respectively. No evidence of territorial marking or defence was noted,
but in Israel latrines and anal-gland marks were found near feeding sites and
along well-used pathways, preferably on sandy or dusty spots. In the Serengeti
no tendency to use latrines, apart from the habit of moving some meters from the
den entrance before defecating, was noted, nor did the hyaenas use regular
pathways (see Foraging Behaviour).
ACTIVITY
Striped hyaenas are quite strictly nocturnal and unlike the spotted kind are
rarely seen in daytime, which they spend under a rock overhang or a fallen tree
or in caves and other dark recesses. Radio-tracked Serengeti animals rarely
used the same lair 2 days in a row. Beginning at dusk, they foraged until 22h00
- 24h00, rested for several hours, then foraged again during the last hour or 2
before daybreak. The mean duration of activity was 6¼ hours, or for about ¼
(26%) of each 24-hour day (compared to 16% for Serengeti spotted hyaenas). A
subadult male observed for 10 full days travelled 7 - 27 km a night, averaging 19
km.
Striped hyaena © WildlifeCampus
WildlifeCampus – The Behaviour Guide to African Carnivores 3
FORAGING BEHAVIOUR
The Serengeti hyaenas seldom travelled the same route twice, even when
returning to a particular foraging site, such as a fruiting Balanites or a
household garbage pit. Walking at 2 - 4 kph or trotting at 8 kph, a foraging hyaena
always quartered ground it had not visited in the recent past, keeping its
head at or below shoulder level with tail hanging or slightly raised. Apparently in
search of sleeping birds, concealed small mammals, reptiles, or insects, it
stopped to investigate every bush or rock, poking its snout into dense shrubs,
clumps of grass, and holes, and sniffed the bases of trees. The direction of travel
bore no relation to wind direction, but individuals were seen to respond
abruptly to the scent of carrion, making a sharp turn upwind to pick up pieces
of bone or skin or a dead bird.
Herds of antelopes and zebras were often encountered, usually without any show
of interest. The prey most actively hunted was insects: grasshoppers,
beetles, and especially flying moths, termites, and beetles. Hyaenas ran as
far as 30 m, made acrobatic leaps, and snapped loudly while trying to grab
flying insects. A few chases after larger prey were seen, over distances of 100
m or less at speeds up to 50 kph: hares, bat-eared foxes, cheetah cubs, birds,
gazelle fawns, dik-diks, and once a reedbuck. Only a bat-eared fox, taken
unaware, and a hare were actually caught. Curiously enough, the hyaenas had
their manes erected during chases, which might be thought to impede rather than
assist their efforts.
Striped hyaenas often cache bones, pieces of skin, and such, using the snout
to push the food deep into a dense shrub or grass clump. They also carry
surplus meat back to their lair or den.
SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR COMMUNICATION
Vocal Communication
Whining, giggling, yelling, growling, lowing, and lowing-growl.
These calls closely resemble the calls of spotted hyaenas, but are much
softer and uttered only during intraspecific encounters. Striped and brown
hyaena calls should be still more alike, but remain to be compared. Whining was
heard from cubs trying to nurse, giggling when one hyaena chased another
carrying food, growling and lowing-growling during food-fighting and play-
fighting, and drawn-out lowing by a cornered or trapped animal. A long-
distance call, described as a cackling howl, has been reported, but is rarely
heard, and captive pairs may exchange quiet "hoos."
Striped hyaena © WildlifeCampus
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Olfactory Communication
Pasting, treading, dung deposits, greeting, and presenting the anal gland.
Foraging striped hyaenas leave scent-marks throughout their range, preferably
on tall grass stems. The pasting procedure is highly stereotyped and very
similar if not identical in the 3 hyaenas (see fig. 20.2). If the spot has been
previously marked, the hyaena first sniffs the stem intently. Then it walks
forward straddling and bending the stalks, typically with 1 foreleg lifted and bent
around the grass and the hindlegs flexed.
Meanwhile the anal pouch is fully extruded and everted, and a coating of
yellowish pomade is deposited on a 2 - 5 cm length of grass as the hyaena
moves forward. A more conventional method is used to mark bushes and other
unbending objects: the hyaena backs into the bush with tail erect and smears a
twig with pomade by waggling its rump from side to side. In both cases the
scent-marks are located at convenient nose height 30 - 60 cm above the
ground. The secretion looks rather like zinc ointment and smells like essence of
spotted hyaena to the human nose and the 2 species react to each other's
deposits (see Relations with Other Predators). Treading or trampling with the
hindfeet for up to 10 seconds has been observed both after pasting and after
defecating at latrines (latrines discussed under Social Organisation).
Greeting and presenting the anal gland. Striped hyaenas sniff noses at every
meeting, even after a brief separation, often followed by anogenital sniffing.
Subsequent behaviour depends on the social standing and comportment of the
participants. Immature young display submission by presenting the anal gland:
while lying on the brisket or carpal-crawling around the adult with tail and
sometimes a hindleg raised, bringing the everted anal pouch under the adult's
nose; while lying on the side or even rolling on the back while pawing at the
dominant hyaena 's chin. A hand-reared cub spontaneously everted the anal
gland whenever handled, beginning at 1 month.
Visual Communication
Visual displays were infrequently seen during interactions between Serengeti
striped hyaenas but as noted below (Agonistic Behaviour), tail and ear positions,
facial expressions, and the erectile mane make aggressive and submissive
displays visually distinctive. Practically any situation that makes a striped
hyaena feel aggressive or fearful causes its hair to rise. The tail is also
expressive, held horizontally while hunting and play-fighting, vertically during
meetings with another hyaena, and curled over the back during a dispute over
food.
Striped hyaena © WildlifeCampus
WildlifeCampus – The Behaviour Guide to African Carnivores 5
AGONISTIC BEHAVIOUR
Dominance/Threat Displays
Bristling, ears and tail erect, hunched posture, growling.
Submissive Displays
Presenting anal gland (see under Olfactory Communication), crest lowered, ears
flattened, fear grimace, upright stance, turning head from side to side, licking lips,
rolling eyes.
Fighting
Ritualised muzzle-wrestling, biting neck and rump, leg-biting.
During an aggressive interaction, the dominant animal may assume a low,
hunched posture (fig. 20.6), while the subordinate lowers its crest but stands
upright and may back away displaying its black throat, meanwhile turning its head
from side to side, licking its lips, and rolling its eyes. Lowering the head may
express the intention to snap at an opponent's legs, which has been
observed in a real attack. To protect their long, vulnerable limbs, both contestants
drop to their knees. But contests typically consist of ritualised wrestling
matches as in the brown hyaena, with biting directed to the cheeks, neck, and
rump.
REPRODUCTION
Non-seasonal breeding, beginning at 2 - 3 years.
One to 6 cubs (average 2 - 4) are born after a 3-month (88 - 92 day) gestation.
SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR
No detailed descriptions of sexual behaviour have been published. Based
on captivity observations, females mate several times at minimal intervals of ¼ -
? hour during a 1-day oestrus.
Striped hyaena © WildlifeCampus
WildlifeCampus – The Behaviour Guide to African Carnivores 6
PARENT/OFFSPRING BEHAVIOUR
The cubs are born in a den, with eyes and ears closed and barely able to crawl,
weighing 660 – 675 g. Intense digging behaviour prior to whelping has been
noted in captive females. The cubs' eyes open at 5 - 9 days and they may
venture aboveground at 10 – 14 days. A Serengeti female visited her cubs
regularly, usually at nightfall and often around midnight. One yearling female
left a whole wildebeest leg at the den after carrying it 2 km. Cubs may start
eating titbits offered by the mother at 1 month, and begin accompanying her
on foraging excursions at 6 months, but are suckled for a year or more.
RELATIONS WITH OTHER PREDATORS
Striped hyaenas keep a good 50 m away from lions (and tigers). Like the brown
hyaena, they are capable of driving or keeping leopards from their kills –
though sometimes leopards also chase hyaenas. Normally the cheetah is also
subordinate, but a hyaena that tried to catch cheetah cubs was repeatedly
charged and finally driven off by the mother. Jackals, foxes, aardwolves, servals,
and other small carnivores are mostly ignored, but play it safe by giving the
striped hyaena a wide berth.
Relations between striped and spotted hyaenas appear ambivalent. There
seems to be a mutual attraction based probably on similarities in their
appearance and smell. Upon meeting they approach and circle each other at 6 -
8 m. The striped hyaena behaves fearfully and submissively, allows the larger
hyaena to steal its food, and is chased away when it attempts to scavenge from
spotted hyaenas. Apparently its ability to appear 38% bigger with its mane
erected fails to impress its heavyweight cousin. Striped hyaenas have been
seen to sniff and paste grass stalks previously marked by spotted hyaenas and to
use their latrines. Visible proofs of interspecific dominance are only trivial signs
of the spotted hyaena 's ecological dominance, however. In the Serengeti
ecosystem, Crocuta monopolises the open habitats and the large ungulates that
live there, consigning its lesser relative to substandard habitats where the
game is smaller and resources are more dispersed.
SOURCES
Fox 1971c. ; Holzapfel 1939. ; Kingdon 1977. ; Kruuk 1976. ; Macdonald 1978. ;
Mills 1978. ; Prater 1966. ; Rieger 1979. ; Skinner and Ilani 1979. ; Wemmer and
Wilson 1983.
Striped hyaena © WildlifeCampus
