A lot of people have heard about
hyenas, the spotted mammals that are well known for their laugh. But do you
know what the female hyena is called? Well, not a “female hyena” that’s for
sure! Continue reading, and you will be surprised.
Before talking about males and
females, let’s first establish what a hyena is. According to the Handbook of
the Mammals of the World, Volume 1: Carnivora, hyena is a mammal from the
family Hyaenidae. It is one of the smallest mammals in the class of Mammalia.
We all know that hyenas are carnivorous but have you heard that they are quite
important to the ecosystem of their native places, including Africa? It is
known that phylogenetically, hyenas are close to cats (felines). However, they
are very similar in a morphologic way to dogs and wolfs (the biological family
Canidae). The reason is that when hunting, hyenas tend to catch the prey with
teeth rather than claws. They have adapted to running and have large,
nonretractable nails. On the other hand, their behavior - defecating habits,
mating, and grooming are similar to the behavior of the representatives of the
cat family.
Mating for other species of hyenas
except the spotted hyena is the same. There are distinct differences between
male and female hyenas - the genitals and the size of the body. However, it may
be hard to spot the difference between a male and a female of the spotted hyena
for those who are not familiar with their reproductive system. The spotted
female hyena is larger than the male and their genitalia looks almost like that
of the male. So what is a female hyena called? We learned that hyenas are
similar to canines. Because of that, the female hyena is called a “bitch,” just
like a female dog or female wolf.
Below you will find some interesting facts
about hyenas:
Hyenae are known to be scavengers. But did you know that the spotted hyena will
kill 95% of its prey, and only 5% will be the already dead animals? However,
the striped hyena is the scavenging one.
2. Is Africa their homeland?
The Hyenas originated from Eurasia,
about 22 million years ago. Shocking, right? They were doglike hyenas. The rise
of the doglike hyenas was about 15 million years ago. However, the period of
climate change that began 5-7 million years ago led to a decrease in their
population. One of the species moved to North America, while most of its
doglike relatives died in Eurasia. There is a theory that the striped hyenas
evolved from the hyenas in Eurasia that likely spread to Africa. The spotted
hyenas diverged from the striped ones.
3. A lot of the relatives
The family of
Hyaenidae is full of relatives that went extinct. The only living families are
the subfamily Hyaeninae, Hyaena - the brown and striped hyenas; and Crocuta -
spotted and cave hyenas.
4. A threatened specie?
There is a list created by the IUCN
and called the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The wolf and the spotted
hyena is in the “least concern” position, while the brown and striped ones are
at the “near threatened.” There you have it - now you know how to call a female
hyena! You can also share the interesting facts about hyenas with your friends
and relatives.
meow
ReplyDelete