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The Hyaena
Height: 70 - 80 cm (27-31 inches).
Weight: male: 70 kgs (155 lbs).
Habitat: Savannah plains.
Grouping: Clans of 5 to 20.
Breeding: All year, 2 - 3 pups.
Diet: Predator and scavenger, bones.
The hyena is sturdy in build, has high shoulders and long muscular limbs. The head is massive and broad, with rounded ears. Thier color is reddish brown to tan, growing lighter and less spotted with age, the yearlings are gray and heavily spotted.
WHERE IT LIVES
Everywhere south of the Sahara except rainforests and true desert, up to 13,000 ft (4000 m.). Many parks in East and Southern Africa; especially Ngorongoro Crater - Serengeti in Tanzania, Masai Mara in Kenya, Savuti Pan and Chobe in Botswana, the Kruger Park in South Africa and the Etosha in Namibia.
ECOLOGY
The hyena is the most abundant large carnivore in areas where antelopes and zebras abound. They eat vertebrates of all kinds, especially hoofed mammals, and seldom eat invertebrates, fruits, or vegetables. They utilize carcasses of large vertebrates more efficiently than other carnivores, which waste up to 40% of their kills. Hyenas eat everything but rumen contents and horn bosses of the biggest antelopes, even deriving nourishment from mummified carcasses. Bones, horns, hooves, even teeth are digested completely within 24 hours.
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