Everyone knows the three big brothers of the grassland: the old lion, the second hyena, and the old three leopards. The lion king is mighty and domineering, and is admired and liked by many people, although the third elder is a loner, but his strength is strong, and a leopard print coat is also coveted by many people. However, the hyena in the position of the second oldest is misunderstood very deeply, and is named "rogue" and "robber", and the negative image of the hyena in "The Lion King" makes everyone scorn the hyena.
I feel that everyone has a deep misunderstanding of hyenas, so I will explain the hyenas here and correct the name.
In nature, people may feel very cruel to carnivores to kill herbivores, this is the rule of nature, herbivores have a large population, breed fast, no carnivores to control, herbivores will eat the plants on the earth.
Survival of the fittest, carnivores can also help herbivores' populations to screen out stronger individuals. There are many species of hyenas, and the hyenas we often see are all breeds of African spotted hyenas.
Myth: Hyenas always sit back and rob other animals of their hunting
Many people have the impression that hyenas are delicious and lazy, and whenever they hear, see or smell the smell of food, they will call friends to go to the lord who is enjoying the "fruits of labor", harass and rob the food, and then feast.
Most of the real situation is that after the hyenas have painstakingly rounded up the prey, they are preparing to enjoy the food, the most powerful predator lion on the grassland has appeared, in the face of such a powerful "steppe brother", the smart hyena can only "endure the pain of cutting meat", but seeing their "fruits of labor" taken away by people, anyone will be a little tempered, so they use roundabout tactics to try to snatch back their prey, and this is to try with their lives, slightly angering the lion, the hyena will face the "blood basin mouth". 。
Hyenas and lions generally have their own territory, and they also sprinkle their own scent on their territory to indicate their territory. For lions, lions only recognize the territorial demarcation of their own kind, and for the territorial division of small predators such as hyenas, lions are basically dismissive.
As a result, it is often the case that lions run into the territory of hyenas to hunt and grab food, but hyenas are only harassing. If the hyena accidentally runs into the territory of the lion, it will face death. However, nature is such a weak predator, so hyenas can only dare to be angry.
Of course, hyenas sometimes rob other animals of their labor in order to survive, such as cheetahs and leopards. Cheetahs are powerful hunters, but they can't fight, so even a hyena can easily face two or three cheetahs, but the cheetah can only give in. Leopards are not so good at bullying, unless it is more than three hyenas, otherwise they will also lose their mouths, and leopards can also grab their prey to the tree to enjoy slowly, hyenas are generally extremely rare.
By seizing the fruits of the labor of other animals, the entire hyena family cannot be fed, and according to statistics, 83% of the hyena's food source is the result of their own hunting.
Some people will ask, why don't lions take the hyenas that are close at hand as food? Hyenas are a scavenger animal, often eating carrion makes the smell of the hyena very unpleasant, and the meat is also very woody, or sour, for such meat unless the lion can not choose, or will not look at more.
Clever hyenas
Hyenas are a very intelligent animal, according to intelligence to divide hyenas can be divided into primates, not only has a clear class system in the family, but also knows how to divide labor and cooperate to prey, making the efficiency of hunting greatly improved. Because the combat effectiveness of a single hyena is very weak, the hyenas know how to move in groups and arrange the position of each hyena in the team.
In order to survive in nature, hyenas have evolved a stomach that can digest carrion, so that they can survive under some extreme conditions, of course, this is to cope with special situations, hyenas will play the role of "scavenger", in general, hyenas eat fresh food.
Hyenas are very frugal about the fur and bones of their prey and swallow them, not wasting anything.
The hyena's smartest is its signature pull, which can achieve the effect of quickly subduing when facing a powerful enemy to attack its weakness.
For powerful herbivores, even lions must be afraid of three points, for such a terrifying opponent, why not be happy to be able to defeat unscathed? Pulling out the anus shows the intelligent wisdom of the hyena, the position of the general animal anus is relatively fragile, the defense is relatively poor, attacking this position can cause great pain to the prey, causing tearing can also drag out the internal organs of the prey together to achieve the purpose of killing the prey. This is definitely the best approach compared to biting your throat from the front and being vulnerable to attack.
Myth: Hyenas laugh strangely to mock other animals
Hyenas can be heard in many documentaries, and some people understand such calls as mockery of the enemy. Hyenas make this call because of their intelligence and ability to use their calls to communicate. Such a cry is not a laughing sound, but only because the tone and frequency of the voice are close to the laughter, it is easy to be mistaken for a strange laugh.
Hyenas have ten kinds of calls to communicate with each other, and each hyena has a different call, which is unique and more convenient for companions to distinguish. Hyenas have very good hearing, and once a hyena finds prey or is in danger, it can call for help by barking to its companions. Communication between the same kind can not only connect feelings, but also be more effective when hunting, and being able to communicate also makes the hyena group more powerful.
They are regularly active at night, and in the case of unclear vision, using sound to communicate is definitely the best way.
Myth: Hyenas are ugly, ugly, and dirty
The color of the hyena's fur helps them to better hide in the grass; the large ears make their hearing excellent and can hear signals from distant companions; the hyena is a predator, and its bite force is very strong, once it bites the prey, it must at least bite off a piece of meat.
Good looks do not have any advantage for them, in order to adapt to changes in the environment, the evolution of various parts of the body has combined to form such an unpleasant-looking hyena.
The hyena's body shape is somewhat ugly, high and low, unlike the speed of cheetahs, hyenas can only run 50-60 kilometers per hour, and wildebeests that are born for a few days can outperform hyenas. But it is precisely because of this body structure that hyenas run quite quickly and have endurance. And being able to run long distances without getting tired.
Hyenas run like our human tramps, and when bouncing and walking, you should be able to feel the advantages of this way of running hyenas.
Hyenas also often appear dirty, because the African continent is very hot, they will escape the heat in the waterhole, by the way to eliminate the parasites on the body, so it shows a dirty look.
However, hyenas are very hygienic, they will dig many pits, and everyone is convenient in the pits. This can hide the smell of hyenas, otherwise many herbivores will stay away from this area when they smell the smell of hyenas, and hyenas will lose a lot of prey.
epilogue
People's cognition of things is always easy to become one-sided, and without in-depth understanding of only the general situation, it is partial and comprehensive, resulting in many misunderstandings. Although the hyena looks unpleasant, but it is for survival, it is always used as a villain role to appear in various cartoons, and it is also deeply hated by many people, and it is really bitter to say.