Is your knowledge about hyenas confined to just Lion King, or do you really know these fascinating creatures? Let's find out...
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Although hyenas are closer to cats than dogs taxonomically, they don't belong to the cat or dog family. They come under a completely different family Hyaenidae.
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Hyenas have a reputation of being ardent scavengers. However, they are actually efficient hunters and polish off large animals as a group, leaving hardly anything behind.
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Hyenas are categorized into four species: brown, striped, spotted, and aardwolf. They vary in size, with the spotted being the largest and aardwolf being the smallest.
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Hyenas polish off their prey inside out, hoof to bone. The high content of collagen in their diets gives their poop its distinctive white color.
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Hyenas are extremely social and live in organized clans, each containing around 80-130 hyenas. Females live in the same clan for life, but the males leave and find a new clan to live.
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Hyenas were believed to be hermaphrodites because females possess a pseudo penis.
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Aardwolf hyenas are insectivorous and primarily feed on termites. The toxic substance termites release seems to have no effect on them.
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Hyena live in a matriarchal society like the elephants. The females have three times more testosterone levels than the males and are larger and stronger.
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Hyenas use all kinds of complex voice calls to communicate with their clans. The distinctive 'laugh' is actually a sign of distress or anxiety. It is also indicative of their age and social status.
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The mother gives birth to her cubs mostly in an underground den. They are born with their eyes closed and pitch black coat. After 2-3 weeks, spots begin to appear.
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Hyenas come under some of the longest living terrestrial carnivores. They can comfortably enter their twenties in the wild.
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The oldest hyena to be recorded till date is the 41-year-old spotted hyena that was bred in captivity.
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