COMMON NAME: Spotted Hyena 
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Crocuta crocuta
TYPE: Mammals
DIET: Omnivore
GROUP NAME: Clan
AVERAGE LIFE SPAN IN THE WILD: Up to 25 years
SIZE: Head and body: 34 to 59 inches; tail: 10 to 14 inches
WEIGHT: 110 to 190 pounds
Gestation Period:
It may look like a dog, but the spotted hyena is more closely related to cats, civets, and genets.
The spotted hyena is the largest of the hyena family which also include the brown hyena (Hyaena brunnea ), stripped hyena(Hyaena hyaena) and aardwolf(Proteles cristata ).
Female spotted hyenas are more muscular and more aggressive than their male counterparts. This is because the females have three times as much testosterone in their bodies. As a result, spotted hyena societies are matriarchal.
Spotted Hyenas can be found in a range of habitats within Sub-Saharan Africa. From semi-desert and Savannah to woodlands and mountains, these strong mammals can survive as high up as 4100m!
Spotted hyenas have good hearing and sharp eyesight at night. They are fast and can run for long distances up to 37 miles per hour (60 kilometers per hour).
Spotted hyenas don’t just scavenge for lion leftovers as it is believed. Spotted hyenas hunt and kill. A group of hyenas can devour an entire zebra, leaving no leftovers in less than half an hour. However, this feeding frenzy comes at a cost; hyenas rip, claw, and fight with one another over the remains of their meal.
They eat practically every part of the animal, including skin, hooves, bone, and teeth. Their jaws and digestive tract allow them to process and obtain nutrients from skin and bones. The only parts of prey not fully digested are hair, horns, and hooves — these are regurgitated in the form of pellets. The high mineral content of the bones makes their droppings a highly visible, chalky white.
Spotted hyenas have distinctive vocalizations; they are the most vocal mammals in Africa, with over 11 different sounds that researchers have recorded. The famous giggle they produce sounds like a human laughing. This “laugh” which can be heard up to five kilometers away (three miles), is used during times of nervous excitement or submission to a dominant hyena. The “whoop” is a call heard for miles and is used to find cubs, advertise territory, or bring the clan together.
Adult females give birth to cubs in isolated dens and later move their cubs to “kindergarten” in communal dens, which are holes previously dug by other animals such as aardvarks. At two to six weeks of age, the mother moves the cubs to a den shared by other mothers in the same clan and their young. Although there may be many cubs from different mothers, each mother nurses just her own.
https://www.livescience.com/55037-hyenas.html
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/s/spotted-hyena/
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