Prey consists principally of small- to midsized ungulates, usually weighing less than 40 kg: however, body weights of prey have a large range, from the calves of African Buffalo Syncerus caffer and Giraffes Giraffa camelopardalis to ground-living birds and small mammals, including hares, porcupines, rats and guineafowl. Cheetahs prefer to kill and actually kill the […]
ClassificationClass: Mammalia (all mammals)Order: Carnivora (all carnivores)Family: Hyaenidae (hyenas andaardwolf )Genus: Crocuta This species is found in a variety of habitats: savanna, open forest, dense dry forest, mountain, and semi-desert. It is not found in extreme desert conditions, the highest mountain elevations, or the tropical jungles of Africa and Asia. Although hyenas physically resemble wild
Fossil archives reveal that it is 20 Hyena specified the earth competitively 10 million years ago, many these species are now extinct and there are currently only four members of the carnivorous family Hyaenidae. These are Spotted hyenas, Striped hyenas Brown hyenas, and Aardwolves. Brown hyenas are now quite rare, found exclusively in the drier
Although often considered scavengers, Spotted hyenas are efficient and flexible hunters. They prefer prey within a body mass range of 56–182 kg (with a mode of 102 kg), a dietary niche breadth similar, but not identical, to that of the Lion. In Kruger N. P., the most important prey items are the Wildbeast Connochaetes taurinus,
Although hyenas are among the main predators, they are often killed or injured by lions. Hyenas and lions share a high level of diet overlapping and are often in direct competition for the same food resources. Lions are bigger and stronger than hyenas, which puts hyenas at risk of injury or death during competitive interactions
Animal diet is influenced by habitat usage, behaviour, morphology and physiology. Understanding predator diet is important because they are able to influence the diversity and abundance of prey species in an ecosystem by means of predation,but also by creating avoidance behaviour on prey species which can affect survivorship negatively. Generally, larger prey is consumed with
Endemic to Africa, south of the Sahara, although formerly with a geographic range across almost all of Africa and Eurasia. Current distribution is more patchy, especially in West Africa, with populations often concentrated in protected areas, of Chad, Central African Republic, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Namibia, Angola, and some parts of South Africa. It
Among mammals living in social groups, individuals form communication networks in which they signal their identity and social status, thereby facilitating social interaction. Despite its importance in understanding mammalian societies, the encoding of personal information in voice signals from non-primate mammals has been relatively neglected. Hyena laughter can encode information about age, individual identity, and
Deer and elk antlers are real bones, and the velvet covering the growing antlers is a modified extension of the head’s normal skin. The antlers are the most rapid growing postnatal bone known. When the antlers are shed, a small piece of the outer part of the peduncle is lost. This shortens the outer length
The largest of Africa’s carnivores, and second-largest member of the family Felidae (after the Tiger Panthera tigris), standing as much as 1.25 m at the shoulder. Body muscular and deep-chested; head relatively short-muzzled and round-faced with prominent whiskers and white chin. Aside from the Asian tiger, lions are the largest living cats and the largest