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Watch the video "Studying Hyena Problem Solving Skills" April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Historically, tests on an animal’s ability to problem solve have been conducted on captive animals. Recently, however, a shift has been made among researchers who are now trying to run those tests on animals in their native habitats. A new study from scientists at Michigan State University and the University of California, Berkeley has found vast differences between the...
Acoustic analysis of the 'giggle' sound made by spotted hyenas has revealed that the animals' laughter encodes information about age, dominance and identity. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Ecology recorded the calls of 26 hyenas in captivity and found that variations in the giggles' pitch and timbre may help hyenas to establish social hierarchies.Frédéric Theunissen, from the University of California at Berkeley, USA, and Nicolas Mathevon, from the Université Jean...
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The striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena) is closely related to the brown hyena. It lives in northern Africa, the Middle East, Pakistan and western India. It is extinct in Europe, but can occasionally be spotted in Anatolia, Turkey. Striped hyenas are largely scavengers, but will also eat small animals, fruit and insects. They are nomadic, moving from water hole to water hole, but never straying more than 6 miles from one. Striped hyenas hunt in solitude but do congregate in small family groups. Like...
The brown hyena (Parahyaena brunnea, formerly Hyaena brunnea) lives mainly in the Kalahari and Namib deserts of southern Africa. It is smaller than the spotted hyena, and unlike its spotted cousin, is largely a scavenger. It is the largest land animal to derive most of its diet from scavenging. Because of the scarcity of food in the desert, the brown hyena supplements its diet with fruit and vegetables. Along the Namib coastline they are known to snatch seal pups. Also unlike the spotted...
The spotted hyena, or laughing hyena, (Crocuta crocuta) is the largest and best-known member of the hyena family. The spotted hyena ranges in size from 3.1 to 5 ft (95 to 150 cm) long along the head-and-body and stands from 2.5 to 3 ft (75 to 90 cm) at the shoulder. The normal weight range for the male is 100 to 132 lb (45 to 60 kg). The females normally weigh from 121 to 165 lb (55 to 75 kg). Some exceptionally large females have been in the ballpark of 200 lb (90 kg). Behavior The...
