Brown Hyena

Parahyaena brunnea

General Description

Scientific Name: Parahyaena brunnea

Subspecies: No Subspecies

Status: Near Threatened (decreasing)

Population Estimate: 4,300 - 10,100

Population in Assessed Areas: 20-50

Diet: Obligate Carnivore

Male Size: 40-43 Kgs

Female Size: 37-40 Kgs

Trophy Size: N/a

Generation Length: 8.5 years

Reproductive Season: Year Round

Time of Activity: Diurnal/semi-nocturnal

Description: Brown hyenas are distinguished from other species by their long shaggy dark brown coat, pointed ears, and short tail. Their legs are striped brown and white, and adults have a distinct cream-colored fur ruff around their necks. Erectile hairs up to 305 mm (12.0 in) in length cover the neck and back and bristles during agonistic behavior. But like other members of the Hyena family, they poses the characteristic sloped back, broad shoulders and large head with a massive bite.

Body length is 144 cm on average with a range of 130–160 cm . Shoulder height is 70–80 cm and the tail is 25–35 cm (9.8–13.8 in) long. Unlike the larger spotted hyena, there are no sizable differences between the sexes, although males may be slightly larger than females. An average adult male weighs 40.2–43.7 kg, while an average female weighs 37.7–40.2 kg. Brown hyenas have powerful jaws, and young animals can crack the leg bones of springboks in five minutes, though this ability deteriorates with age and dental wear. The skulls of brown hyenas are larger than those of the closely related striped hyena, and their dentition is more robust, indicating a less generalized dietary adaptation.

Ecology: Brown hyenas are primarily scavengers the bulk of whose diet consists of carcasses killed by larger predators, but they may supplement their diet with rodents, insects, eggs, fruit and fungi (the desert truffle). As they are poor hunters, live prey makes up only a small proportion of their diet: in the southern Kalahari, species such as springhare, springbok lambs, bat-eared foxes and korhaans constitute only 4.2% of their overall diet, while on the Namib coast, cape fur seal pups compose 2.9% of their food. They have an exceptional sense of smell and can locate carcasses kilometers away.

They are aggressive kleptoparasites, frequently appropriating the kills of black-backed jackals, cheetahs and leopards. Single brown hyenas may charge at leopards with their jaws held wide open and can tree adult male leopards; they have been observed treeing leopards even when no kill was in contention. In the Kalahari Desert, they are often the dominant mammalian carnivores present because of this behavior and the relative scarcity of lions, spotted hyenas, and packs of African wild dogs. In areas where their territories overlap, brown hyenas may, on rare occasions, be killed by spotted hyenas and lions. Brown hyena cubs are also susceptible to being killed by wild dogs and jackals.

Brown Hyenas on the coast of Namibia have been known to predate upon African Fur Seal pups during their breeding season. The pups are vulnerable to land predators during this period of time, and serve as an important food source to these populations of Hyenas.

Behavior: Brown hyenas have a social hierarchy comparable to that of wolves, with a mated pair and their offspring. They live in clans composed of extended families of four to six individuals. Clans defend their territory, and all members cooperate in raising cubs. Territories are marked by 'pasting', during which the hyena deposits secretions from its large anal gland, which is located below the base of the tail and produces a black and white paste, on vegetation and boulders. Brown hyenas maintain a stable clan hierarchy through ritualized aggressive displays and mock fights. A brown hyena male can move up in rank by killing a higher ranking male in confrontation, while the alpha female is usually just the oldest female in the clan.[9] Emigration is common in brown hyena clans, particularly among young males, which will join other groups upon reaching adulthood.

In the Kalahari, 80% of a brown hyena's activity time is spent at night, searching for food in an area on spanning 31.1 km on average, with territories of 54.4 km having been recorded. They may cache excess food in shrubs or holes and recover it within 24 hours

Charmaine-Joubert-Brown-hyena-and-jackals-Kgalagadi.jpg

Reproduction: The brown hyena does not have a mating season. Female brown hyenas are polyestrous and typically produce their first litter when they are two years old. They mate primarily from May to August. Males and females in the same clan usually do not mate with each other, rather females will mate with nomadic males. Clan males display no resistance to this behavior, and will assist the females in raising their cubs. Females give birth in dens, which are hidden in remote sand dunes far from the territories of spotted hyenas and lions. The gestation period is around 3 months. Mothers generally produce one litter every 20 months. Usually, only the dominant female breeds, but if two litters are born in the same clan, the mothers will nurse each other's cubs, though favoring their own. Litters usually consist of 1–5 cubs, which weigh 1 kg (2.2 lb) at birth. Unlike spotted hyenas, brown hyenas are born with their eyes closed, and open them after eight days. Cubs are weaned at 12 months and leave their dens after 18 months. Also unlike spotted hyenas, all adult members of the clan will carry food back to the cubs. They are not fully weaned and do not leave the vicinity of their den until they reach 14 months of age.

Brown hyenas reach full size at an age of around 30 months and have a life span of about 12 to 15 years.

Conservation Analysis

Current & Historic range: Today, brown hyenas can be found over vast areas of Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, and small areas of Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Swaziland, and Angola. This range has remained largely constant across most of the Holocene and late Pleistocene, but in earlier times Brown Hyena fossils have been found well outside of this regular range, such as in Kenya, and even in southern Iberia. The modern range of the Brown Hyena has largely remained intact, with some fragmentation across areas of South Africa, Botswana and Namibia where farming operations have impacted populations. They continue to exist in protected strongholds such as several the Etosha National Park in Namibia, the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in Botswana and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.

Current & Historic Populations: The total population size across Southern Africa has been estimated as at a minimum of 5,000 to 8,000 individuals, with Botswana having the largest population, with an an estimated 3,900 animals. However, numbers for Botswana may be higher, as one density study for the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and Makgadikgadi Pans estimates the Brown Hyaena population at 2,253 animals. A 2014 estimate Botswana's total population in 2014 between 2,799 and 5,271 animals. A recent national population estimate for Namibia puts the number of Brown Hyaenas at 566-2,440 animals, and for South Africa, the estimate sits at a population of 1,007 (31-2,316) animals. No recent population size estimates are available for Zimbabwe, Angola, Mozambique, Lesotho or Swaziland.

The mean density of Brown Hyaenas on farmlands in Botswana was 2.3 per 100 km2 based on camera trap data, and 2.88 per 100 km2 based on spoor surveys. The estimated population density in Pilanesberg National Park, South Africa, at 2.8 per 100 km2.

Map of Brown Hyena Distribution

Threats to Species Survival: Outside protected areas, the Brown Hyaena may come into conflict with humans, and they are often shot, poisoned, trapped and hunted with dogs in predator eradication or control programs, or inadvertently killed in non-selective control programs. The major threat to the brown hyena is illegal and unregulated human persecution, often triggered by the belief that they actively harm to livestock. Farmers find brown hyenas scavenging on livestock carcasses and wrongly assume that they have killed their property. In Namibia, around 72% of livestock owners believe that the Brown Hyaena are responsible for livestock deaths, despite Brown Hyaenas very seldom preying on livestock. In South Africa's North West Province 40% of livestock owners regard the Brown Hyaena as a problem animal, but in the North West Province, only 6% of surveyed farmers admit to having killed Brown Hyaenas on their property. Persecution in small stock areas in Namibia has lead to the local extinction of Brown Hyaenas in the southeastern parts of that country, where increasing conflict may lead to further population decline.

Brown Hyaena body parts are used in traditional medicine and Brown Hyaenas are also often unintentional victims of lethal problem animal control through poisons and poaching through snares

Recommended Conservation Actions:

Further resource and manage protected areas where Brown Hyenas still exits exist.
Increase the access to funding and the effectiveness of anti-poaching techniques across Southern Africa, to make Brown Hyenas protection as affordable as possible.
Encourage the implementation of economic incentives that allow landowners to profit off the presence of healthy Brown Hyena populations, whether that be through hunting or ecotourism.
Investigate how trophy hunting and ecotourism can be implemented without having negative impacts on Brown Hyena populations, and help implement this over a large part of their range.
Improve survey methods to get accurate population data, such as implementing long-term monitoring programs. This is especially important in the more fragmented areas of their modern range, where populations are predicted to be decreasing.

Economic & Cultural Analysis

Ecotourism Value: Moderate to High

Hunting Value: Moderate

Meat Value: Low

Average Trophy Value: $900-5,000 USD

Meat Yield per Animal: n/a

Economic Value/Impacts: Compared to other large carnivores such as Spotted Hyenas, Leopard, Lions and Cheetahs, they are much less of an attraction to ecotourists, simply because most visitors don't know that they exist. Combined with their naturally low population densities, and tendency to be most active at night or at dawn/dusk, the chance of seeing a Brown Hyena on safari is rare. In some areas of South-west Namibia, semi-habituated Brown Hyenas have been seen around campsites on a semi-regular basis, making this a notable attraction to tourists.

Their value to the hunting industry is usually limited, as very few animals are harvested by hunters (both because of a low demand, and because of their naturally low densities), but when harvested, they can fetch a considerable trophy fee. Hunts for this species can be conducted both during the day and at night.

Cultural Value: Brown Hyenas share much of the same cultural depictions as Spotted Hyenas and Striped Hyenas within their African range, as a shy and ambivalent animal, or as a "sly, brutish, necrophagous, dangerous, and the vilest of beasts". Livestock farmers often despise the Brown Hyena, largely due to a lack of understanding of their predatory nature and dietary patterns.