The Hyena
I asked him a few questions about the hyena, which is an animal not frequently thought about. If we do think about it, it is not with positive notions. The hyena, in African and Arabic folklore, is seen as an animal that is associated with witches, or the the corporeal form of jinns. The sound that they make, which is akin to human laughter, can raise the hair on anyone's neck (even Shakespeare used the proverb, "Laughing like a hyena," and they have been known to attack humans, though it is rare.
In popular culture, one might think of the three creepy animals in The Lion King, or of Hardy Har Har, the cartoon sidekick of Lippy the Lion. In a bit of reverse humor, Hardy doesn't laugh; he's a major depressive.
But I've read that hyenas aren't all that they're supposed to be. For one thing, they are not strictly scavengers--they kill 95 percent of what they eat, though they eat just about everything of the carcass, including the bones. They are important to ecosystems, as they usually kill the stragglers, sick and infirm of the herd. This is bad for the stragglers, but is an essential part of survival of the fittest.
My nephew told me that despite their appearance, hyenas are not canines. They are most closely related to cats, in the suborder feliformia. There are four species, the spotted, the striped, the brown, and the aardwolf, which is just thisclose to being the first animal in the dictionary.
Hyenas today are limited to Africa and Asia, but were once far more widespread, as fossils have been discovered in Alaska. In fact, some anthropologists believe the settlement of Alaska was impeded by the cave hyena, which I guess feasted on newcomers.
My nephew is not exactly sure what the study is all about, but I hope it involves him hiding in a tree somewhere watching hyenas in their misunderstood glory.
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