Spotted hyena

The spotted hyena, also called the laughing hyena, is a large meat-eating mammal of sub-Saharan Africa. It is the biggest member of the hyena family and the only living species in its genus, Crocuta. It is famous for the giggling, whooping calls that gave it its nickname, and it has a powerful, slightly bear-like build with a spotted coat and rounded ears.

Despite its reputation as a scavenger, it is mainly a hunter and kills most of its own food, though it will also scavenge. It is the most common large predator in Africa. The species is rated Least Concern, with an estimated 27,000 to 47,000 animals, but numbers are dropping outside protected areas because of habitat loss and poaching.

A society run by females

Spotted hyenas live in clans, and their social life is among the most complex of any meat-eating mammal. In many ways it resembles that of baboons and macaques, with a clear ranking and lots of interaction between relatives and non-relatives. The society is matriarchal: females are larger than males and dominate them. Access to a kill depends on rank, yet the clan also cooperates, hunting, eating and resting together and standing up to a common enemy.

Hunters with strong jaws

Spotted hyenas hunt animals such as zebra, wildebeest and gazelles, and their jaws are strong enough to crunch bone, as the globe card notes. They are adaptable and opportunistic, which is one reason they are so successful. Related cave hyenas, usually treated as a subspecies, roamed Europe and Asia for at least a million years until the end of the Late Pleistocene. Females look after only their own cubs, and males do not help raise them.

On the globe

Look near Harar in Ethiopia, where people have long lived alongside hyenas; the card highlights its laughing calls and strong jaws.