Hyenas 101 Trivia Quiz

Answer: dark brown or black

Hyena cubs are born with black or very dark brown fur. This colouration provides camouflage in the dark shadows of their dens, which are usually crevices, burrows or caves. This helps them remain hidden from passing predators while their mother is out hunting or scavenging.

As the cubs grow, their dark fur gradually lightens and develops into the familiar spotted or sandy coat by the time they are about five months old.

Answer: True

Female spotted hyenas are exposed to high levels of male hormones during their development in the womb, causing them to grow faster and larger, become more muscular, and develop aggressive behaviors needed for survival. It is believed that this is linked to their need to provide for their cubs.

Young hyenas remain dependent upon their mothers for food and protection for about two years (which is much longer than most mammals) while they learn how to hunt and navigate their clan's social hierarchy.

Answer: Cats

Although hyenas are dog-like in their appearance and behaviour, they are more closely related to cats than dogs.

Biologically speaking, cats and hyenas belong to the suborder Feliformia, which consists of "cat-like" carnivores. This group includes all domestic and wild cats, as well as mongooses, meerkats, aardwolves and civets.

Dogs belong to the suborder Caniformia which includes domestic dogs, wolves, and foxes, as well as bears, raccoons, skunks, and seals.

Answer: True

The hyena family, Hyaenidae, consists of four species: the spotted hyena, the striped hyena, the brown hyena and the aardwolf. The hyenas are carnivorous scavengers but the aardwolf is an insectivore, mostly eating termites. Aardwolves are the smallest members of the hyena family, weighing only 8 to 14 kg (17 to 30 lbs), about the size of a large fox.

Alternative names for the aardwolf are earth wolf (a literal translation of aardwolf from the Dutch and Afrikaans languages), the maanhaar or maned jackal, the grey jackal, the civet hyena and the termite-eating hyena. Of course, it is not a wolf, a jackal or a civet. Those names are merely descriptive.

Answer: False

While the spotted hyena certainly has a bone-crushing bite, it only ranks sixth in terms of bite strength. Positions 1 to 5 are occupied by the saltwater crocodile, hippopotamus, jaguar, gorilla and polar bear, in that order. The bite strength of the spotted hyena is up to 9000 Newtons or 1,100 PSI (pounds per square inch).

Their bite is stronger than that of a lion or tiger. They can easily crack open the thick leg bones of animals such as giraffes and elephants in order to access the nutrient-rich bone marrow.

Answer: True

Spotted hyenas typically give birth to one or two cubs per litter. The cubs are born with fully erupted teeth and open eyes, and they are highly aggressive at birth. If a hyena mother bears two female cubs, one female cub will more than likely kill the other to ensure the dominant one will survive. If a male cub and a female cub are born, both usually survive since the male is not a threat to the female cub.

Answer: a clan

The most common collective noun for a group of hyenas is a "clan". An alternative collective noun is a "cackle", a descriptive term derived from the distinctive "laugh" of the hyena, which is technically called a giggle. It is not a sign of happiness.

It is a vocalisation provoked by stress, frustration, or excitement, typically heard when members of the clan are competing for food at a kill.

Answer: matriarchal groups

In spotted hyena clans, females rule. A clan of spotted hyenas can be as large as 80 members, led by a single alpha female. The females are larger, more aggressive, and more dominant than males. The lowest-ranking female in a clan outranks the highest-ranking male.

Cubs automatically have a social rank immediately below that of their mother. High-ranking females and their cubs get first access to freshly killed prey. Adult males usually get the last pick of the food after the rest of the clan has eaten.

Answer: striped hyena

The striped hyena is the only type of hyena found outside of Africa. It is found in North and East Africa, as well as in forty countries across the Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula, and Asia. The civet hyena is an alternative name for the aardwolf.

Answer: lions

Lions and spotted hyenas live in the savannas, grasslands, and open woodlands of sub-Saharan Africa, especially in countries such as Tanzania, Kenya, Botswana, and South Africa. They are both apex predators so they compete for the same food resources.

They will frequently steal kills from one another, and will kill each other's young or vulnerable adults on sight. Lions actually scavenge more kills from hyenas than the other way around. While lions are bigger and stronger than hyenas, hyenas work in cooperation to outmanoeuvre them and have greater stamina so they can run them down over long distances.