Brains And Brawn

Spotted hyenas are bucking the trend for large carnivores being in decline. Niki Rust explores why.

- Niki Rust

You don’t often get to eat dinner next to one of Africa’s most ferocious predators. The tantalising smell of roasting meat from numerous barbecues had lured several of the impressive mammals to our South African tourist camp, and they prowled outside looking for an easy meal. So what is a naive wildlife conservationist to do when faced with the prospect of eating her butternut squash in the presence of a spotted hyena? Invite it to tea, of course. I just had to figure out how to communicate in the language of Crocuta crocuta.

A light bulb went on in my head: I remembered learning that repeated short whoops are a hyena rally call when an individual needs back-up from the rest of its clan. As I whooped into the blackness of the Kruger night, a solitary hyena came trotting over, right on cue. Even though I knew there was a impassable, chain-linked fence between us, a deep sense of bewilderment came over me as this formidable 60kg carnivore stared at me from just 2m away.

It’s never a good idea to feed any wild animal, particularly ones that can crunch through bones the way squirrels eat nuts, so I did not share my veggie meal with my wild companion. Instead, we sat there for a few moments trying to figure each other out. As I gazed into the hyena’s dark brown eyes, I couldn’t help but think that this magnificent creature deserved a lot more respect than we currently give its kind.

Hyenas have a bad reputation – but do they deserve it? As intelligent, highly social creatures, spotted hyenas have found a way to adapt to life in the African savannah like no other animal. While many large carnivore populations are declining globally, spotted hyenas do not seem to have suffered quite so significantly. I wanted to find out why.

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