Spotted hyenas are amazing and unfairly hated animals
I absolutely ADORE hyenas. I love reading articles about them, watching photos and videos of them hunting, playing with each other and fighting. However, there will always be a weirdo (usually many of them) who will comment on how much they despise hyenas. From what I’ve observed this opinion is usually based on myths and misinformation.
“They are scavengers who steal food from lions!”
Incorrect, they are extremely effective predators who hunt up to 95% of their food. Yes, they can eat an already dead animal or steal others’ meal, but it’s an extremely rare occurrence and they don’t do it more often than other predators. In fact, it’s more common for lions to steal prey from hyenas than the other way around (due to lions being bigger and physically stronger)
“They are cruel, they eat their prey alive!”
Wild dogs, lions, cheetahs and other animals too sometimes. Yes, hyenas do it more often, but that’s because of their hunting strategy: they chase and exhaust their prey until it can’t fight back.
Predators don’t kill their prey before eating it out of some high moral ideals, they just do it so it won’t hurt them or escape. Plus hyenas, as written before, often get their meal stolen, so they need to eat as fast as possible.
“They’re cowardly!”
I usually read this kind of stuff under videos of clans of hyenas running away from lions, especially if it’s a scenario of “hyenas attack a lonely lion/lion cub — other lions go to defend them — hyenas back up”. First of all, lions also love to murder lonely hyenas or hyena cubs, usually by breaking the back and leaving the hyena paralyzed, that’s the way predators get rid off their competitors for food. Second, male lions are way bigger and physically stronger, of course hyenas prefer not to get mauled if it’s not necessary, that doesn’t make them cowards. However, hyenas absolutely can bravely fight lions to protect themselves, their clanmates or their cubs.
“They’re ugly!”
Well, this one is a matter of taste but I personally find them extremely cute! They have beautiful big brown eyes, huge round pointed ears and noses r/forbiddenboops dreams of.
Now why I absolutely love spotted hyenas! They’re extremely socially intelligent animals, experiments show that they solve coordinated teamwork tests better than chimpanzees. They have strong family ties, mothers nurse their cubs for long and spend a lot of time playing with them. Siblings, mothers and their daughters (sometimes sons if they choose to stay in their birth clan) keep a lifelong bond. They have a complex social hierarchy, with females almost always being on the top and their daughters right below them. And most importantly, their little cubs are absolutely adorable!