Our one and only sighting of the spotted hyena, an animal that is far more beautiful than its reputation might suggest. Hyenas are powerful predators too; as much if not more of their meat comes from their own kills as it does from scavenging.
I know this shot is blurry but I quite like it nonetheless.
A hyena mansion. In Sabi Sands, spotted hyenas make their homes in termite mounds, taking over and enlarging burrows and entrances previously created by aardvarks. They're sturdy lodgings but not exactly luxurious ones - they are infested with parasites.
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Spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) have a bad reputation; they look strange, they have an unnerving repertoire of yips and yowls, the females have a pseudo-penis, and they are often portrayed as ruthless scavengers. I actually like hyenas quite a bit, and although not much can be done about their…
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African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus), photographed at the Bronx Zoo.
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They are beautiful, aren't they.
I managed to get a single shot of one in Namibia in the very early morning, as it was presumably returning home, too shagged out to avoid photographers hiding in bushes.
http://cedgray.com/item.php?id=422&set=106&st=61
Apparently they make great pets.
http://davidmurodesign.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/hyena_man.png
Sig; That's a "Hyena Man", a street performer/vendor who sells medicines and trinkets. The hyena is just a gimmick to get people's attention.
http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/art/25452/pieter-hugo-the-hyena-and…
Hyenas were among our favorites this summer--we saw them only a handful of times, but they are beautiful. Oh, and once we learned about their distinctive calcium-rich white scat, it was a bit of a wakeup call to find some only a couple of meters from our lodge.
Brian said;
"The hyena is just a gimmick to get people's attention."
I know, I was just joking!
Sigmund; Ah, the pitfalls of teh intertubez. Sorry, Sigmund. I knew you were joking, but I didn't know if you knew about the "hyena men" or not. I had not heard of them until relatively recently.
Ah yes, I knew there was something I'd learned about hyenas that I forgot to write about. Like Anon says, they have really interesting droppings - bright white that crumbles into a powder. Their digestive juices are powerful enough to liquidise all manner of organic tissue including hooves, hair etc. All that's left is bone.
Oh and apparently, we had a leopard in our lodge one night drinking out of the pool ;-)