Tumaren

Wim, on 26 Apr 2008

Good for Gabriel! How exciting and, actually, how lovely! Are they as noisy as the spotted ones James?
Apparently that’s a Hyaena hyaena dubbah, there are five subspecies of Striped Hyaena distributed from Africa through to Russia, it’s one of the smaller of the subspecies (though still big enough to face down a Leopard), and it’s more of a fruit eater, mouse-nibbler and scavenger than a hunter of large prey.
The North African and Asian ones are bigger and they have a terrible reputation for eating children in India. The Turkmenistan clan are quite fond of tortoises (as food rather than companions), and there’s a general species-wide liking for Melon (whether this is as an appetiser or desert is, as yet, unknown). I’m bluffing with my ersatz knowledge; The Hyaena Specialist Group is the font of all wisdom.
How wonderful! Thanks.

James, on 27 Apr 2008

PS I’m not aware of them making any noise here. If they do vocalize they certainly are discreet about it. Our resident spotted love to talk to each other all night. More pics of them to come.

Wim, on 28 Apr 2008

From what I read Theresa, Striped Hyaena occupy the same areas as Spotted Hyaena but don’t interbreed. They’re more solitary (usually one or two but up to seven in the larger striped subspecies), than their spotted cousins which are the dominant species (and can have clans of up to eighty individuals!) When attacked by dogs or dug out by humans they may sham death (even if repeatedly bitten!), then run off when they get the chance. Less is known about their hunting habits than of either the brown or spotted Hyaena. They’re known as grave robbers and are persecuted for it. They will take dogs and goats and cause damage to date palms and melon fields (they can drink soda and salt water but melons may yield a source of fresh water in the diet). One was observed locating and digging out three hibernating tortoises in two and a half hours in one night so that may indeed be hapening there James! They get around, are sometimes nomadic and frequently cover up to 27km a night. Their home-range in the serengetti for one male and one female, was 44km and 72km respectively. They have a crest/mane on their shoulders which they can erect and seem to signal socially with. Known to be monogamous, both males and females bring food to the cubs. Dens have been found in Israel measuring 27m in length. They use a smaller range of calls than the spotted Hyaena, in central Asia they often die by falling through thin-ice on lakes so “Help!” isn’t one of them…
As there are so few species of Hyaena it’s worth noting that the Aardwolf probably divereged from the evolutionary branch about 15 to 32 million years ago, the spotted diverged from striped and brown about 10 million years ago and the striped and brown from each other about 3 to 6 million years ago. Remains of Spotted Hyaena have been found in London.
Don’t even get me started on the Aardwolf…

Sherri S., on 28 Apr 2008

WONDERFUL article on hyenas at http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/hyena.html. Once you learn all the interesting facts it sure makes these creatures seem less … well … ugly.

Wim, on 30 Apr 2008

Europe and the UK were joined until about 8,000 years ago, actually they still were when I popped over to Paris on the Eurostar yesterday (Smug? Me? Never!) I’ve got a Hyaena tooth which was dug out of the Thames valley (though it may be a piece of old brick…)