Brown hyaena, Strandwolf
The Brown hyena (Parahyaena brunnea) is a species of hyena found in Africa. It is currently the rarest species of hyena. The largest remaining Brown hyena population is located in the southern Kalahari Desert and coastal areas in Southwest Africa.
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NocturnalNocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal",...
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CarnivoreA carnivore meaning 'meat eater' is an organism that derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet consisting mainly or exclusively of a...
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ScavengerScavengers are animals that consume dead organisms that have died from causes other than predation or have been killed by other predators. While sc...
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
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CursorialA cursorial organism is one that is adapted specifically to run. An animal can be considered cursorial if it has the ability to run fast (e.g. chee...
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AltricialAltricial animals are those species whose newly hatched or born young are relatively immobile. They lack hair or down, are not able to obtain food ...
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ZoochoryZoochory animals are those that can disperse plant seeds in several ways. Seeds can be transported on the outside of vertebrate animals (mostly mam...
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NomadicNomadic animals regularly move to and from the same areas within a well-defined range. Most animals travel in groups in search of better territorie...
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TerritorialA territory is a sociographical area that which an animal consistently defends against the conspecific competition (or, occasionally, against anima...
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ViviparousAmong animals, viviparity is the development of the embryo inside the body of the parent. The term 'viviparity' and its adjective form 'viviparous'...
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PredatorPredators are animals that kill and eat other organisms, their prey. Predators may actively search for or pursue prey or wait for it, often conceal...
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PolygynyPolygyny is a mating system in which one male lives and mates with multiple females but each female only mates with a single male.
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PolyandryPolygyny is a mating system in which one female lives and mates with multiple males but each male only mates with a single female.
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PolygynandryPolygynandry is a mating system in which both males and females have multiple mating partners during a breeding season.
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Dominance hierarchyA dominance hierarchy (formerly and colloquially called a pecking order) is a type of social hierarchy that arises when members of animal social gr...
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Not a migrantAnimals that do not make seasonal movements and stay in their native home ranges all year round are called not migrants or residents.
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starts withBrown hyenas are distinguished from other species by their long shaggy dark brown coat, pointed ears, and short tail. Their legs are striped brown and white, and adults have a distinct cream-colored fur ruff around their necks. Brown hyenas have powerful jaws, and young animals can crack the leg bones of springboks in five minutes, though this ability deteriorates with age and dental wear. The skulls of brown hyenas are larger than those of the closely related striped hyena, and their dentition is more robust, indicating a less generalized dietary adaptation. There are no sizable differences between the sexes, although males may be slightly larger than females.
The Brown hyena lives in the southern regions of Africa, namely, Angola, Namibia, Botswana, southern and western Zimbabwe, and southern Mozambique. The southern part of the Kalahari Desert and the coastal areas of southwest Africa are the location of the largest population in existence today. These animals inhabit semi-desert and desert areas, open woodland savanna, and open scrub. They can survive near urban areas but need some sort of cover where they can rest during the day, like bush cover and rocky areas.
Brown hyenas are nocturnal, and during the day adults will sleep under cover of bushes, trees, or rocks to avoid being overheated. Adults hunt on their own, following trails they used previously and have scent-marked. This species lives either nomadically or within a clan. About one-third of males are nomads, having left their birth clan, and are searching for a new clan to join in the role of alpha male. The females are sometimes nomadic, but only when there are no cubs to look after. Clans number 5 to 15 individuals which are related to each other, but alpha males usually come from another clan. These animals defecate in latrine sites throughout their territory, mostly near their den and other important locations such as killing sites and territorial boundaries. Such sites are mostly used for communication between members of a clan, along with scent markings.
Brown hyenas are generalist (carnivores), and, being scavengers, are highly opportunistic feeders. They mainly eat carrion but also catch live animals such as small mammals, birds, fish, and insects. They will also eat fruit, vegetables, and eggs.
Brown hyenas usually demonstrate one of two complex systems of mating. One is a polygynous, clan-based system, which occurs only when the alpha male is a non-relative from another clan and mates with all females in the clan. The other system involves the clan females primarily mating with one or several nomadic males that come into the clan’s territory, being a polyandrous or polygynandrous (promiscuous) system, with females sometimes mating with up to four different males. They typically mate from May to August, during the dry season in Africa, but timing may also be due to the spontaneous arrival of any nomadic male. Breeding is usually every 12 to 41 months. Gestation lasts about 90 days, with 1-4 cubs born in the natal den. When they are 3 months old, they start to eat solid food and are moved by their mother to the communal den, where they are fed either by their mother or another lactating female. At 15 months old the cubs are weaned. They reach reproductive maturity between the age of 2 and 3. Males usually leave the den but females remain with the clan.
The Brown hyena is often killed due to misconceptions, myths, and an unjustified bad reputation. There is a continuing false belief that these animals threaten domestic livestock, resulting in commercial farmers throughout its range killing harmless individuals. Brown hyenas, in fact, rarely kill livestock, and when they do, such killings are probably the work of a particular individual. Besides such persecution, this species is occasionally used in traditional rituals and medicine. Due to the amount of poisoning, hunting, and trapping, the overall range of brown hyenas is possibly declining, and in the southern part of its range, it is now rare, and possibly even extinct.
According to the IUCN Red List, the total Brown hyena population size is 5,000 to 8,000 individuals. This includes populations of 2,799 and 5,271 in Botswana; 566-2,440 animals in Namibia and 1,007 (31-2,316) animals in South Africa. Currently, this species is classified as Near Threatened (NT), but its numbers today remain stable.
As a scavenger, the Brown hyena has an important role in removing the remains of dead animals from its habitat, as these serve as breeding grounds for many diseases and parasites if left to decay. These animals help regulate black-backed jackal and South African fur seal populations through predation. They also change the predation frequencies of leopards and cheetahs by stalking them while they are hunting and then driving them away from their kills. They also disperse seeds from tsama melons, gemsbok melons, and hookeri melons at defecation sites.
Social animals are those animals that interact highly with other animals, usually of their own species (conspecifics), to the point of having a rec...