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The spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), also known as the laughing hyena, [3] is a hyena species, currently classed as the sole extant member of the genus Crocuta, native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is listed as being of least concern by the IUCN due to its widespread range and large numbers estimated between 27,000 and 47,000 individuals. [1]
A 2024 study of a cave hyena genome from Sicily found that as with the 2020 study, there was strong genetic separation between Eurasian cave and African spotted hyenas, but unlike the 2020 study, there was no robust support for a basal split between East Asian/Siberian and European cave hyenas, with the Sicilian cave hyena found to be the ...
Crocuta first appears in Europe around 800,000 years ago at the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene, replacing the giant hyena Pachycrocuta. [2] The Eurasian "cave hyenas" (Crocuta spelaea, Crocuta ultima and others) have either been considered subspecies of the living spotted hyena, [1] or as distinct species. [3]
The fossil record indicates that the now extinct European spotted hyenas primarily fed on Przewalski's horses, Irish elk, reindeer, red deer, roe deer, fallow deer, wild boar, ibex, steppe wisent, aurochs, and woolly rhinoceros. Spotted hyenas are thought to be responsible for the dis-articulation and destruction of some cave bear skeletons ...
The spotted hyena, though it also scavenges occasionally, is an active pack hunter of medium to large sized ungulates, which it catches by wearing them down in long chases and dismembering them in a canid-like manner. Spotted hyenas may kill as many as 95% of the animals they eat. [53]
Spotted hyenas feature prominently in the rituals of certain African cultures. In the Gelede cult of the Yoruba people of Benin and Southwest Nigeria, a spotted hyena mask is used at dawn to signal the end of the èfè ceremony. As the spotted hyena usually finishes the meals of other carnivores, the animal is associated with the conclusion of ...
Archaeologists have announced a rare and extraordinary discovery made in the Egyptian desert.. Scientists found the nearly complete skull of a new 30-million-year-old “top apex” predator ...
Hyenas are large, powerful animals, up to 80 kg (176 lb) and represent one of the most prolific large carnivorans on the planet. The aardwolf is much smaller and is a specialised feeder, eating mainly harvester termites. Family Herpestidae (mongooses, kusimanses, and the meerkat) has 32 species. Previously, these were placed in the family ...