Spotted hyenas all sound different when they call – they can tell friend from foe: Ryan Green/GettyImages On quiet nights across large swaths of the African bush, you may hear a series of whooping calls in the distance. This unique sound is the long-distance vocalisation used by spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) to communicate with each …
Hyenas’ unpicky feeding habits help clean up a town in Ethiopia: shutterstock Hyenas aren’t the most popular animals. Sometimes they kill people’s livestock. They are also thought of as scavengers, with some unappealing eating behaviour. Then there’s their cackling “laugh” and their physical looks, less graceful in some eyes than other large predators like lions …
In defence of hyenas – they’re not just scavengers: Shutterstock Of all the world’s great natural predators, hyenas are surely among the most maligned. They are often seen as good for nothing scavengers, the bullies of the African plains, laughing as they gang up to steal hard won meals from their more majestic competitors. Footage …