![]() ![]() Hyenas are mostly viewed with fear and contempt because of their scavenging habits and their alleged cowardice, as well as being associated with witchcraft, as their body parts are used as ingredients in traditional medicine. Hyenas feature prominently in the folklore and mythology of human cultures they are sympatric with. With the exception of the latter species, hyenas are powefully built animals with thick necks and jaws strong enough to crush most large bones. The hyena family consists of four species the large, predatory spotted hyena (also known as the "laughing hyena"), the scavenging brown and striped hyena and the small, insectivorous aardwolf. Hyenas are carnivorous mammals which, although bearing a superficial resemblance to dogs, are actually more closely related to cats and viverrids. In all my associations with hunters, travellers and naturalists, I have never yet been able to find one who would defend the hyena, which by common consent is classed as the most skulking, cowardly, cruel and treacherous of beasts~ Roosevelt, Theodore (1909), Roosevelt in Africa ![]()
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