Is it a Zebra? Is it a Tiger? It's the Striped Hyena!

Illegal poisonings, shootings and trampling on the roads harm the dwindling population of hyenas in Israel.

And no, they cannot change their gender and do not usually keep human skulls around. A rare species.

Author: Dr. Haim Berger, animal and predator behavior researcher. CEO of the Negev Safari Company.

The Striped Hyena is the largest predator in Israel and very impressive but also very vulnerable.

The striped hyena is common in all the open areas of Israel - in the desert areas - Negev, Arava and the Judean Desert, and also in the Mediterranean and the Galilee and the Golan regions. Despite the extensive distribution area in Israel, the numbers of hyenas are low and apparently the population is getting smaller. The reasons that contribute to this include: poisoning, shooting, eating from garbage cans and running over on the roads.

In order to conserve him, the factors that lead to his extinction must be addressed, and especially his habit of eating leftovers and garbage or livestock, which in the end also leads to the proliferation of illegal poisonings.

Photo Taken by Alor Leonel

Physical Charesteristics

The Striped Hyena is a carnivore from the mammal class and the hyena family. Its body structure is mainly adapted to eating carrion and cracking bones. At first glance the hyena looks similar to dogs, but the front part of the body is larger and sturdier than the back part and the spine inclines diagonally upwards in the direction of the head. The difference is also evident in the size of the footprints, where the front is almost double the size of the rear, which makes it relatively easy to identify the hyena's footprints in the field.

The hyena developed chest and neck muscles and large jaw muscles connected to a particularly prominent ridge on his skull. All these give him the ability to deal with carcasses and cut them up easily.

Even if there are only scraps left, which other animals have already finished eating, the hyena will still be able to gather something by cracking the bones.

The strength and speed with which it can crack bones allows the hyena to also steal pieces of food from carnivores larger than itself. This adaptation developed during evolution, apparently in an era when there was an abundance of predators. Even today, in areas where the hyena shares its habitat with larger predators, this feature helps it. The Striped Hyena has a fur pattern of black stripes on a grayish-white or yellowish body, the shape of the stripes is unique to each hyena, similar to a fingerprint and allows individuals to be identified in the field.

Putting Down A stake

The striped hyena lives in a variety of habitats, ranging from savannahs, deserts, and Mediterranean forests. It avoids very cold areas. Its global distribution is the widest of all hyena species in the world. It is found in East Africa, in the center and north, in the Middle East, in the Arabian Peninsula and east to India.

The male and female are similar in appearance and body size and they live as individuals. The cubs, three on average, accompany the female and are sometimes also observed accompanying the male for several months to about a year. Rarely around feeding stations in Israel where carcasses are placed for eagles, you can see several adult hyenas together, but it is very rare to see more than a single hyena in the field. In recent years there is new interesting information. First, a rare observation of courtship and mating that we conducted on a night safari together with a team of Negev Safari company guides. During the observation we saw the beginning of mating until its end where the male and female were connected together for about three hours. As far as we know as of 2023, this is the only complete observation in nature of the mating of the striped hyena.

Lunch Break

Despite the popular assumption that the striped hyena feeds mainly on carrion, hyenas are actually omnivores. In Israel there were several sightings of hyenas hunting, among other things, gazelle, camels, puppies and more. When necessary, the hyena will eat small creatures such as rodents, lizards, turtles and even insects such as grasshoppers. Hyenas also feed on plant food, mainly sweet fruits such as grapes, dates, melons and more. Another unique discovery is eating kale - a super food. Apparently this fashion also reached predators in Israel.

Risk Factors

As we mentioned, the hyena is common in Israel in almost all the open areas of the country - recently, there have been several reports of cases of hyenas infiltrating settlements in the Judean Lowlands, which are rich in available food sources (animal waste dumped on the sides of farms and in open dumps). Information gathered from the north of the country, it was found that avoiding the dumping of carcasses of wild boars in and near settlements significantly reduces their penetration into the settlements.

How will we help the Striped Hyena survive?

In order to preserve the hyena population in Israel, the factors leading to its extinction must be addressed. One of the most important issues that require treatment is the treatment of poisonings and poisons used in agriculture. Every year hundreds of mammals and birds lose their lives as a result of illegal poisoning. One of the most severely affected bird species in Israel are the vultures, which reached the brink of extinction in 2023. There are difficulties in finding the perpetrators and punishing them, which means that there is not enough deterrence against the perpetrators, and the plague of poisoning continues. For large species like the hyena, which have huge territories and small populations anyway, any such damage may cause severe damage to the population. In the meantime, the path to prevention should be by actively collecting carcasses and removing them from the area to prevent an unnatural increase in the predator population.

Superstition

Among the many predators with which our country has been blessed, the hyena "deserved" to be the subject of countless legends and fabric stories, in most of which it is slandered. In particular, there are many superstitions related to the fact that in the past, old human skulls were sometimes found in hyena dens. This is how the belief developed that the hyena can hypnotize those who meet him in the field and lead them to his lair. In Israel there is no evidence of a hyena harming people.

Another belief states that the hyena can change its sex, originates from a chain of error, which stems from the shape of the genitals of a relative found only in Africa - the spotted hyena. In this species, the genitals of the females have a shape reminiscent of a male genital organ, and they are usually larger and more prominent than the males - so suddenly during the breeding season you see an impressive "male" with puppies.

The knowledge about the behavior of hyenas in the wild is relatively little compared to other predators. In a study at Britannia Park in the Judean Lowlands, funded by the National Fund for Israel and the Nature and Parks Authority, a mature hyena carrying a radio transmitter was followed for three years. During all direct observations she was observed alone without additional adult hyenas but during the mating period twice, each time with one hyena pup.

One puppy was released at the age of six months and was observed accompanied by its mother for several months. The living area of the adult female was about 60 square kilometers, and included most of Britannia Park and open fields in the area. In a study in a more arid area in the Sde Boker area (conducted with funding from the Nature and Parks Authority), an adult female was monitored and her living area was spread over about 110 sq. km. Another male hyena that was tracked in the Sde Boker area for a shorter time ended his life after apparently raiding a herd of sheep belonging to the Bedouins (and probably being hunted by them).

During the years of monitoring them, an interesting behavior was observed in the two hyenas. In several cases, jackals and foxes were observed following the hyena at a safe distance while constantly sniffing and observing her actions. Tracking a small predator after a large one in anticipation of the remains is a well-known and familiar phenomenon from Africa, but watching it in Israel is an amazing experience. In the early nineties at a time when there were many sightings of leopards in the Ein Gedi area, a hyena was seen chasing a leopard away from its prey and the leopard jumped on a nearby tree and just continued to growl and arch its back like any good cat, and did not try to confront the hyena.

However, a negative numerical balance can work to the detriment of the hyena, and there are several observations of a group of wolves that harassed and chased away a hyena in competition for a carcass. Today we are conducting research through trail cameras to identify the hyenas that exist in the Sde Boker area.