One of the four species highlighted in David Attenborough’s Dynasties II series, female spotted hyenas are one of nature’s most interesting matriarchal societies. Back in 2018, scientists from Michigan State University studied a group in the Masai Mara, Kenya and found that spotted hyenas practise a group dynamic that’s as complicated as many primate species. The sex and rank of […]
Tag: Spotted hyena
“Each family display loyalty, courage and generosity” – These wild dogs might be branded villains, but what I found in the savannah completely changed my mind
The gritty 1973 thriller about an assassin plotting to murder the French president has much to answer for. Almost 40 years on, The Day of the Jackal continues to cast a long shadow over the lives of the wonderful animals that gave the film’s villain his codename. The word ‘jackal’ still invokes images of scavengers […]
These 8 astonishing, brutal hyena photos reveal the raw chaos, power and intelligence of these top predators
While many think of hyenas as scavengers – as they steal most of their food from lions, they are also extremely adept hunters, chasing down prey across the savannah at impressive speeds. Hyenas can work together to bring down surprisingly large animals, such as zebras, buffaloes and giraffes – and have even been known to […]
Watch nail-biting and emotional BBC footage of a pregnant hyena being attacked by a pack of wild dogs – will she survive?
In this first clip from upcoming BBC TV series Kingdom, David Attenborough narrates a tense encounter between a pregnant hyena and a pack of wild dogs In the new BBC TV series Kingdom, the power struggles of four animal families across a Zambian river valley are revealed – and in this first-look clip narrated by […]
‘Is it “woke” to care about the environment?’: how Trump’s cuts are dismantling global conservation work
When the guns finally fell silent in 1992, little was left alive in Gorongosa national park. During the 15 years of Mozambique’s civil war – in which more than a million people died – the country’s wildlife also paid a terrible price. Poaching for meat and ivory was so intense that the small surviving elephant […]
Uganda’s lions in decline, hyenas thriving – new findings from country’s biggest ever carnivore count
For nearly 15 years almost no information was available on the population status of Uganda‘s large carnivores, including those in its largest national park, Murchison Falls. These species represent a critical part of Uganda’s growing tourism economy. The country is home to the famed tree-climbing lions, which are much sought after for this unique behaviour. […]
Study links African lion survival to prey availability
BLANTYRE, Malawi ― African lions are declining due to the decrease in their herbivore prey, necessitating the need for increased prey protection measures to reverse this trend, a study says. According to the study published in the Conservation Science and Practice journal, preventing prey depletion can improve the lion’s reproduction and population growth in ecosystems […]
The state of lions, leopards and hyenas in Uganda
The first comprehensive population estimate of Uganda‘s lions, leopards and spotted hyenas in almost two decades has revealed that lion numbers in the country are extremely low. Leopards (Panthera pardus) are holding on across the country, and hyenas are faring well. In a collaboration involving more than 100 conservation stakeholders, researchers used spatial capture-recapture methods […]