Hello, hyena

The first time I came across a hyena was on a school camping trip in the Namib. We were there to help a biologist count mice that live on the side of dunes. The area was wild and full of the sort of creatures that are found in the desert.

After a group trip out to the traps one evening I needed a bit of time to myself so I asked if I could walk back, a distance of about a kilometer, infinitely rich in the absolute silence of the desert evening. No problem. As I was walking I sensed something behind me and turned. About fifty meters back, I spotted the thing. I couldn't say whether it was a brown or spotted hyena, but my guessing is that it was a brown hyena because of its long, dark fur, the way it blended into the deep dusk, and the proximity of the area to the coast.

We stood and looked at one another for a few moments before the hyena slunk off at a right angle to the track. Perhaps I looked like some kind of cousin to a baboon, nature's own Hannibal Lecter and a creature feared by man, hyena, leopard and lion. Perhaps I didn't look very appetising. Maybe it was hoping I would fall over and die. I wasn't particularly scared: there wasn't anything threatening to the moment

The next morning I wandered into the dunes around the camp and found the front half of a gemsbok. Its hindquarters were eaten entirely. Vanished! Gone! Or, as we say in a number of Namibian languages, 'moer toe'! There must have been a pack, to make such a thorough meal of something that big. What I couldn't understand was where were the bones? The biologist explained to me that the bones are chewed up and eaten as well. He showed me hyena droppings, which are almost entirely made of bone. They look like porous rock, but they are lighter and as white as classroom chalk.

When the hyena sits down to dinner, nothing is wasted.

After an experience with a scorpion on my lap as a child, and the idea that any wild creature that doesn't attack or sting is a lucky animal, I added the hyena to my list of 'lucky animals'.

Hyenas have a way of being unlucky, but more to themselves.

Hyenas are known to attack humans, but this is very rare and usually comes with the story that the victim was sleeping outside, normally in the heat of summer or because of sleeping sickness. There are far more dangerous things in Africa, for instance hippos, crocodiles, bilharzia parasites, tsetse flies, elephants with their ears held back and faultily wired toasters.

Perhaps the gemsbok was my lucky animal, though that idea does not have the right feel to it.

There is the idea that hyenas eat corpses, and this is quite possible. Aside from hunting very small thinggs, hyenas are mainly scavengers, so they could conceivably dig up corpses not buried deeply enough.

In fact, the brown hyena is a desperately bad hunter. Live prey will make up only a very small part of its prey. Sometimes they can be seen in the vicinity of lion or jackal kills looking for a chance to snatch a remnant. If there is no carcass, even fruit and vegetables will do. On the coast of Namibia, a hyena will take a chance on a baby seal but will not risk a healthy adult.

In the realm of the supernatural, hyenas are a very important part of Africa. Witches are said to ride on their backs but I doubt this. A hyena is not a big creature and the weight of a full grown adult would probably break its back. It is more likely a mistranslation and what was meant was the tokoloshe, a small sub-Saharan demon, or something similar.

Africa also has stories of people who transform into hyenas. When they are killed they take hyena form unlike their wolfish supernatural kin. They are also said to be able to transform into half human, half hyena hybrids. The were-hyena can do this at will according to the folklore, and is not bound by the phase of the moon. This is a story that has its roots in the northern parts of Africa.

In truth, any animal with teeth is likely to have a folklore develop around it. Biting teeth are a primal fear. The hyena is not seen often. If it can, it will avoid humans unless the humans are weak or young, and the hyena does not have better prey.

I have only seen brown hyenas two other times, once wandering among a colony of seals and once in the distance from a car, near a lion kill. All the others I have come across are the stuffed variety in museums.

If you want a bit more on the brown hyenas of the Namib, click here...