What do hyenas like to hunt?

What do hyenas like to hunt? The Hyaenidae member that consumes the most meat is the spotted hyena. The spotted hyena is more of a predator than a scavenger than its striped and brown siblings. Hans Kruuk, a Dutch wildlife ecologist, conducted one of the earliest studies to demonstrate the spotted hyena’s hunting prowess. During a seven-year investigation of hyena populations in Ngorongoro and Serengeti National Parks in the 1960s, Kruuk demonstrated that spotted hyenas hunt as frequently as lions, and subsequent research has confirmed that this is the norm for all of Africa

Found in most Parks in Kenya and almost guarantee to be spotted on a Kenyan safari tours especially during the Night game drives are the hyenas. Even ecologists and wildlife documentary channels frequently mistake spotted hyenas for scavengers.

Spotted hyenas prey

In both Ngorongoro and the Serengeti National Park, blue wildebeest are the most often taken medium-sized ungulate prey, with zebra and Thomson’s gazelles close behind. Due to variations in preferred habitat, attacks on cape buffalo are uncommon, however adult bulls have occasionally been caught. The spotted hyena prefers to prey on blue wildebeest, cape buffalo, Burchell’s zebra, greater kudu, and impala in Kruger National Park, whereas its main food sources in the surrounding Timbavati region include giraffe, impala, wildebeest, and zebra.

Except for the four months when zebra and wildebeest herds migrate into the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya during the great migration, the spotted hyena’s primary food consists of topi and Thomson’s gazelle. In contrast to northern Kenya, where Grant’s gazelle, gerenuk, sheep, goats, and cattle are probably preyed upon, the Aberdare Mountains are home to the majority of prey species, including buffalo, suni, bushbuck, and suni.

The spotted hyena is predominantly a scavenger in west Africa, though it will on occasion attack domestic livestock and medium-sized antelopes in select regions. Small antelopes like kob, as well as the carcasses of reedbuck, kongoni, buffalo, giraffe, African elephants, topi, and roan antelopes, are frequently eaten by spotted hyenas in Cameroon. Records show that medium- to large-sized ungulates like waterbuck and impala are the main prey of spotted hyenas in Malawi. Spotted hyenas typically target wildebeest in Tanzania’s Selous Game Reserve, then buffalo, zebra, impala, giraffe, reedbuck, and kongoni. The species is assumed to predominantly hunt on birds and reptiles in Uganda, whereas it is thought to be a scavenger in Zambia.

Fish, turtles, humans, black rhinos, calf hippopotamuses, juvenile African elephants, pangolins, and pythons have all been caught by spotted hyenas. At least one instance of four hyenas killing an adult or sub adult hippopotamus in Kruger National Park has been documented. Around campsites, spotted hyenas may devour leather accessories like boots and belts. Spotted hyenas are said to be the animal that consumes car tyres. Jane Goodall observed them attacking or cruelly toying with the exterior and interior fixtures of vehicles.

The fossil record reveals that the now extinct European spotted hyenas preyed largely on Przewalski’s horses, Irish elk, reindeer, red deer, roe deer, fallow deer, wild boar, ibex, steppe wisent, aurochs, and woolly rhinoceros. Some cave bear skeletons have been disarticulated and destroyed, and spotted hyenas are suspected to be to blame. For hyenas, particularly at the end of winter when food was scarce, such enormous carcasses were the ideal feeding supply.

Hunting tactics of spotted hyenas

The only animals that spotted hyenas notably avoid preying on are African buffalo and giraffe, unlike other large carnivores in Africa. The preferred prey for spotted hyenas has a body mass of 102 kg (225 lb), with a range of 56–182 kg (123–401 lb). Spotted hyenas usually target young animals as well as older ones while hunting medium- to large-sized prey, though the latter group is less important when hunting zebras because of their violent anti-predator actions. While huge prey is consumed alive, small prey is killed by being shook in the mouth.

The spotted hyena uses its eyes, ears, and nose to locate live prey. Both smell and the sound of other predators feasting can identify carrion. They watch vultures swoop down on carcasses during the day. Their sound awareness is strong enough to pick up sounds of predators consuming prey or eating on carcasses up to 6.2 miles (10 km) away. In contrast to the grey wolf, the spotted hyena hunts primarily with its eyes rather than its nose and does not follow the tracks of its prey.

In groups of two or three or alone, spotted hyenas typically hunt wildebeest. Adult wildebeest are typically caught after 5 km (3.1 mi) of chases at up to 60 km/h (37 mph). With the exception of cows carrying young, just one hyena often initiates chases, and the wildebeest herd rarely mounts an active defence. Wildebeest will occasionally try to flee hyenas by going into the water, but the hyenas almost always capture them.

Due to their propensity for racing in close formation and vigorous defence against stallions, zebras require hunting techniques that differ from those employed for wildebeest. Hyenas typically hunt in packs of 10 to 25; however, there is one instance where a hyena killed an adult zebra on its own. In a typical chase, the hyenas follow behind in a crescent shape while the zebras travel in close groups. Chases typically move at speeds between 15 and 30 km/h. A stallion will make an effort to stand between the hyenas and the herd, but once a zebra retreats behind the herd’s protective line, it is quickly pursued, often after a 3 km (1.9 mi) pursuit. Hyenas may hunt the stallion, but they mostly focus on the herd and try to avoid the stallion’s attacks. Mares, unlike stallions, usually don’t attack hyenas unless their young are in danger. Zebras rarely swim to escape hyenas, unlike wildebeest.

Spotted hyenas often hunt Thomson’s gazelles alone, and they mostly prey on new born fawns. Chases against adult and young gazelles can reach 5 km (3.1 mi) at 60 km/h (37 mph/h) or more. Although they may try to divert hyenas by seeming weak, female gazelles do not protect their fawns.

Feeding habits of spotted hyenas

While spotted hyenas may consume as least 14.5 kg of meat per meal and can be hostile towards one another when they are hungry, they primarily compete with one another by eating more quickly than lions do. Spotted hyenas can consume a gazelle fawn in less than two minutes, while a pack of 35 of them can finish off an adult zebra in 36 minutes. Spotted hyenas only need a small amount of water and often only drink for 30 seconds.

Spotted hyenas will first eat the meat near the loins and anal area when eating on an intact cadaver, then they will tear open the abdomen and remove the delicate organs. The hyenas will eat the lungs, abdomen, and leg muscles after finishing off the stomach, its wall, and its contents. The carcass is broken down once the muscles have been consumed, and the hyenas take the individual portions to themselves to eat in solitude.[25] Spotted hyenas are skilled at consuming their prey under water; it has been observed that they may dive beneath floating carcasses to take nibbles before rising to the top to finish.

The largest ungulate bones can be broken into smaller pieces and eaten by the spotted hyena, who is also capable of thoroughly digesting its prey. All organic components of bones, not simply the marrow, can be digested by spotted hyenas. The faeces, which are virtually exclusively a white powder with few hairs, are expelled together with any inorganic substance. Compared to other African carnivores, they respond more quickly to vultures that land on them and are more prone to hang around lion kills or populated areas.