Crocuta crocuta

Geographic Range

Through the end of the Pleistocene, spotted hyenas, Crocuta crocuta , ranged throughout Eurasia and the reasons for its extinction there are not certain. Until very recently, spotted hyaenas were a common species in most of sub-Saharan Africa. Since 1970, confirmed records of C. crocuta have been recorded in Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Congo, Sudan, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Mali, Senegal, and Sierra Leone. Hyenas occur throughout sub-Saharan Africa, but their density varies widely across this area. Only occasional animals are seen in some areas (forests of Mt. Kenya) and they have been extirpated from most areas of South Africa, High densities occur in the Serengeti and especially the Ngorongoro crater in Tanzania. Crocuta crocuta is the most numerous large predator in the Serengeti.

• Biogeographic Regions
• ethiopian ethiopian
  • native native

Habitat

Crocuta crocuta is common in many types of open, dry habitat including semi-desert, savannah, acacia bush, and mountainous forest. The species becomes increasingly less common in dense forested habitat and is less common than Hyaena hyaena and Parahyaena brunnea in desert habitats. Spotten hyaenas do not inhabit the coastal tropical rainforest of west or central Africa. In west Africa, the species prefers the Guinea and Sudan savannahs. Crocuta crocuta has been recorded from as high as 4,000 meters in east Africa and Ethiopia.

• Habitat Regions
• tropical tropical
• terrestrial terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• desert or dune desert or dune
• savanna or grassland savanna or grassland
• forest forest
• scrub forest scrub forest
• mountains mountains

• Other Habitat Features
• riparian riparian

Physical Description

Crocuta crocuta has a sandy, yellowish or gray coat with black or dark brown spots on the over most of the body. The spots are darkest in younger animals and can be almost completely absent in very old animals. The coat is very coarse and wooly. The body length from head to tail is about 95 to 150 cm and the height at the shoulder is reported from about 75 cm to 85cm. The tail is about 30 to 36 cm long and ends in a bushy black tip. About two-thirds of the tail is composed of bone with the other one-third being solely hair. Crocuta crocuta is sexually dimorphic with females weighing around 6.6 kg more than males. Male weight ranges from about 45 to 60 kg whereas females weigh 55 to over 70 kg. Crocuta crocuta is strongly built, with a massive neck and large head topped by rounded ears, unlike the other hyaenas. The jaws are probably the strongest in relation to size of any mammal. The front legs are longer than the hind legs, which gives the back of C. crocuta a slightly odd, downward slope. The feet have four digits with short, non-retractable claws and broad toe pads.

C. crocuta females are extremely masculinated and the genitalia of females are almost indistinguishable from those of males. The clitoris is enlarged, looks like a penis, and is capable of erection. Females also have a pair of sacs in the genital region which are filled with fibrous tissue. These look much like a scrotum, but are covered with more hair than the male's scrotum. Thus, males and females look extremely similar. The female has no external vagina and must urinate, mate, and deliver young through the urogenital canal that exits through the pseudo-penis. High androgen levels were once thought to be a major cause of this masculinazation. One current hypothesis is that sexual mimicry is the driving force behind hyaena masculinization. Females that look like males may be protected from aggression from other females.

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• female larger
• ornamentation ornamentation

Reproduction

Mating in spotted hyaenas is polygynous. Males perform a bowing display to females before mating. The male lowers his muzzle to the ground, advances quickly toward the female, bows again, and then paws the ground close behind the female. The dominance of females assures that males are timid and will retreat immediately if the female shows any aggression. The female's reproductive tract makes mating somewhat difficult. Male hyaenas approach and slide their haunches under the female to achieve intromission. Once intromission is acheived they move to a more typical mating posture, with the male's underside resting on the female's back. The female phallus is completely slack during mating.

Crocuta crocuta clans are matrilinear and females are dominant over males. Juvenile males emigrate after puberty and join new clans where their position in the dominance hierarchy may increase over time. Females, however, have stable linear dominance hierarchies. In addition, rank is inherited from the mother so, these hierarchies remain stable for many generations.

Crocuta crocuta is highly polygynous and mating is aseasonal. Although all females produce litters, alpha females have a younger age at first breeding, shorter interbirth intervals, and increased survival of offspring. These benefits are passed directly to female offspring. The mechanism responsible for the increased fitness of high ranking females is probably the increased access to food that alpha females receive. In addition, high ranking female hyaenas seem to preferentially give birth to sons. Infanticide has been witnessed several times in the wild both by hyaenas from neighboring clans and also by females from the same clan.

• Mating System
• polygynous polygynous

The gestation period is 4 months in C. crocuta . Females usually bear twins although 1 to 4 young are possible. The females give birth through their penis-like clitoris. During birth, the clitoris ruptures to allow the young to pass through. The resulting wound takes several weeks to heal. Cubs are not weaned until they are between 14 and 18 months of age. Females are capable of producing a litter every 11 to 21 months.

The newborns weigh from 1 to 1.6 kg and are quite precocious, being born with their eyes open. Newborns are almost entirely black. If siblings are the same sex, they begin fighting violently soon after birth, which usually results in the death of one of the two. Since single young receive more food and mature faster, this behavior is probably adaptive. Two to six weeks after birth, the mother transports young from the burrow in which they were born, often an abandoned aardvark, warthog or bat-eared fox burrow, to a communal den. The major source of food for the young during this time is milk from the mother.

Communal denning seems to be an important part of spotted hyaena social behavior, but no communal care of young takes place. One exception to this has been observed in the Kalahari during a particularly difficult period.

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous iteroparous
• year-round breeding year-round breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual sexual
• fertilization fertilization
• viviparous viviparous

Crocuta crocuta has the highest parental investment of any carnivore for several reasons. First, spotted hyaena milk has extremely high energy content. The mean protein content is 14.9 %, and the mean fat content is 14.1 %. This is only exceeded by some bears and sea otters. Weaning occurs from about the age of 12 to 16 months, which is extremely late. By the weaning age, juvenile hyaenas already have completely erupted adult teeth, which is also very rare. The age at sexual maturity is about three years, although some males may be sexually active at two. C. crocuta females are very protective of their young and do not tolerate other hyaenas around them at first. Finally, females intervene on behalf of their daughters in antagonistic encounters and form coalitions with them to secure the place of the daughters in the dominance hierarchy immediately below that of the mother. Males have not been reported to have a role in parental care.

• Parental Investment
• no parental involvement
• precocial precocial
• female parental care female parental care
• pre-fertilization
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-independence
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• post-independence association with parents
• extended period of juvenile learning
• inherits maternal/paternal territory
• maternal position in the dominance hierarchy affects status of young

Lifespan/Longevity

Crocuta crocuta lives about 20 years in the wild. The longest known lifespan for this species in captivity is 41 years and 1 month.

Behavior

Crocuta crocuta forms social groups called clans.l Clans may be composed of 3 to 80 members. Larger clans generally occur in prime territory with large prey concentrations, such as the Ngorongoro crater, whereas smaller clans occur in desert areas in southern Africa. All females are dominant to all males, and females remain in their natal clan for their entire lives. Males disperse upon reaching sexual maturity. Once a male joins another clan, he enters a dominance queue that the other males respect. As more males enter the queue and older males die, the male will move up through the social rank. Males spend a long time developing relationships with females in the clan. They follow females for periods of days or weeks and eventually gain favor with the females through this behavior.

Although spotted hyaenas live in clans, the members of a clan are only observed all together in three circumstances: At kills, when defending the territory, and at a communal den. More often, the clan members forage alone or in small groups. Higher ranking females have been shown to associate more with kin than low ranking females. This behavior is beneficial to related females because they forage together and engage in coalitionary attacks against unrelated females when competing for food at a kill. Thus, females who associate with thier female kin are able to gather larger amounts of food more efficiently. In addition to allowing matrilines to defend their rank, close associations among female kin allow some of these kin groups to displace higher ranking matrilines under certain conditions. Finally, low ranking females preferentially associate with higher ranking females. It is hypothesized that these low ranking females receive benefits from high ranking females through reciprocal cooperation.

• Key Behaviors
• terricolous
• diurnal diurnal
• motile motile
• sedentary sedentary
• territorial territorial
• social social
• dominance hierarchies dominance hierarchies

Home Range

Crocuta crocuta clans defend group territories. However, they make frequent long distance foraging trips to the nearest ungulate herds to hunt. This system has been labeled a “commuting” system. It allows C. crocuta to live at much higher population densities than their clan territories would support. Territory size is extremely variable ranging from as small as 40 km^2 in the Ngorongoro crater to 1000 km^2 in the Kalahari. Territories are defended using vocal displays and scent marking. Scent marks are deposited from a secretion of the anal gland and from a secretion of glands on the feet. In addition, spotted hyaenas use communal latrines which also serve to mark territory boundaries.

The commuting system of C. crocuta depends on the ability of hyaena clans to differentiate between "commuting" groups and groups that are actively searching for food. Aggression is rare between resident clan members and commuting individual hyaenas. Non-resident hyaenas typically defer to resident clan members at a kill, however this situation may also result in aggression.

Communication and Perception

Crocuta crocuta is well known for the wide variety of vocal communication used. Groans and soft squeals are emitted during hyaena greetings. A whoop is used as a contact call in addition to a fast whoop which is used by excited hyaenas at a kill. Males give the fast whoop more often than females but are generally ignored. Female calls generally elicit much more of a reaction. Finally, a lowing call is used by impatient hyaenas who are kept waiting at a kill.

In addition to the previously mentioned calls, hyaenas give several calls related to aggression. These include grunting, giggling, growling, yelling, and a rattling growl. These calls are given in various aggressive interactions with clan members, other clans, or other species. The giggling is the trademark "laughing" call of the hyaena. Is associated with fear or excitement and is often given when an individual is being chased.

Spotted hyaenas also perform a phallic inspection as a greeting. Two individuals stand head to tail, lift the rear leg closest to the other and then sniff and touch each other's extended phallus for up to 30 seconds. Females usually do not greet males in this manner, and if they do it is usually only the highest ranking males. Cubs can perform this ritual within the first month of life.

Chemical communication occurs because of the use of common latrine areas, as well as in scent marking. Tactile communication is involved in the genital investigation greeting, as well as between mothers and their young, rival young, and mates.

• Communication Channels
• visual visual
• tactile tactile
• acoustic acoustic
• chemical chemical

• Other Communication Modes
• scent marks scent marks

• Perception Channels
• visual visual
• tactile tactile
• acoustic acoustic
• chemical chemical

Food Habits

Hyaenas have a reputation for being mostly scavengers, however, this is not accurate. A study in the Kalahari found that 70 % of the diet was composed of direct kills. Typically, clans split up into hunting groups of 2 to 5 individuals, although zebra are hunted in larger groups. In the Serengeti and Ngongoro crater, Tanzania, C. crocuta was observed eating a wide variety of items including wildebeest, zebra, Thompson's gazelle, Grant's gazelle, topi, kongoni, waterbuck, eland, Cape buffalo, impala, Warthog, hare, springhare, ostrich eggs, bat-eared fox, golden jackal, porcupine, puff adder, domestic animals, lion, other hyaenas, termites, and afterbirth. Fecal analysis in these same two areas revealed that about 80 % of the samples contained wildebeest, zebra, and various gazelle species. In a study in Senegal, Hyaenas were found to prey on large herbivores such as buffalo, hartebeest, kob, warthog, bushbuck. In addition, C. crocuta has been known to prey on the young of giraffe, hippopotamus and rhinoceros.

Crocuta crocuta uses its keen senses of sight, hearing and smell to hunt live prey and to detect carrion from afar. It often chases its prey long distances at speeds up to 60 km/hr. A chase in the Kalahari lasted 24 km before the prey, an eland, was captured. In the Serengeti, many prey species of ungulates are migratory and are not found in the clan territory during some parts of the year. When this occurs, the clan goes on hunting trips to the nearest concentrations of prey. The average round trip for these trips is about 80 km and a lactating female can make 40 to 50 trips per year for a total of 2800 to 3600 km per year.

• Primary Diet
• carnivore carnivore
  • eats terrestrial vertebrates
  • scavenger scavenger

• Animal Foods
• birds
• mammals
• fish
• eggs
• carrion carrion
• terrestrial non-insect arthropods

• Other Foods
• dung

Predation

Crocuta crocuta is one of the top predators in Africa. However, there are several species which may kill them. In one study 13 of 24 hyaena carcasses found were killed by lions. Hyaenas and lions compete directly for food and often scavenge each other's kills. This competition often leads to antagonistic encounters that may result in death. In addition, humans often kill hyaenas in numerous ways. Through the early 1960's, hyaenas were shot on sight in numerous parks and game reserves in East Africa. Otherwise, this species is free of predators.

Ecosystem Roles

Hyaenas are the most numerous large predator in Africa in areas where ungulates are common. Thus, they are an extremely important component of this ecosystem. Hyaenas utilize almost every part of their prey except for horns and rumen, and scavenge often.

• Ecosystem Impact
• keystone species keystone species

Economic Importance for Humans: Positive

Crocuta crocuta is a large, common carnivore in many parts of Africa and so it is quite a resource for safari companies and should be considered an important part of the tourist industry. The species is sport hunted in some places in Africa, although hyaenas are not much in demand from trophy hunters because they are not viewed as very attractive. They are also hunted sometimes for food or medicine.

• Positive Impacts
• food food
• ecotourism ecotourism
• source of medicine or drug source of medicine or drug

Economic Importance for Humans: Negative

Crocuta crocuta is a common predator on domestic livestock in Africa. In addition, they have also been known to attack and kill humans, especially during human disease outbreaks.

• Negative Impacts
• injures humans
• crop pest

Conservation Status

Crocuta crocuta has been categorized as a "Lower Risk" species by the IUCN Hyaena Specialist Group. In addition, the group has identified this species as "Conservation dependent". This means that there is currently a conservation program aimed at this species, but without this program the species would most likely be eligible for threatened status within 5 years.

Additional Links

Encyclopedia of Life

Contributors

Nancy Shefferly (editor), Animal Diversity Web.

Jason Law (author), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Phil Myers (editor, instructor), Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

References

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East, M., H. Hofer. 2001. Male spotted hyenas ( Crocuta crocuta ) queue for status in social groups dominated by females. Behavioral Ecology , 12/5: 558-568.

Eltringham, S. 1979. Ecology and Conservation of Large African Mammals . London: MacMillann Press Ltd.

Engh, A., K. Esch, L. Smale, K. Holekamp. 2000. Mechanisms of maternal rank ‘inheritance’ in the spotted hyaena, Crocuta crocuta . Animal Behaviour , 60: 323-332.

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Hofer, H., M. East. 2003. Behavioral processes and costs of co-existence in female spotted hyaenas: a life history perspective. Evolutionary Ecology , 17: 315-331.

Hofer, H., M. East. 1995. Population dynamics, population size, and the commuting system of Serengeti spotted hyenas. Pp. 332-363 in Serengeti II: Dynamics, Management, and Conservation of an Ecosystem . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Hofer, H. 2002. "Spotted Hyaena" (On-line). IUCN Species Survival Commission Hyaenidae Specialist Group. Accessed March 31, 2004 at http://www.hyaena.ge/spotted.htm .

Holekamp, K., S. Cooper, C. Katona, N. Berry, L. Frank, L. Smale. 1997. Patterns of association among female spotted hyenas ( Crocuta crocuta ). Journal of Mammalogy , 78/1: 55-64.

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Kruuk, H. 1972. The Spotted Hyena: A Study of Predation and Social Behavior . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

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