-»> Hyaenas and Jackals 



seen the wild cat on six occasions, and having killed three 

 specimens ! 



Although I have made four sojourns in East Africa, 

 only once have I seen the striped hyrena by day. At 

 night I have noticed it twice, and I have trai)ped it 121 

 times. All natives who are at all acquainted with the 

 animal world know the "kingugua" well. If you show 

 them one that has been trapped they recognise it at 

 once ; but it you question them about it, though its 

 appearance is so distinctive and easily recognised, you 

 are confronted with the most astonishing ignorance and 

 that lack of desire to know which is a trait of the natives 

 •of East Africa. 



ddie "kingugua" is much more feared than the spotted 

 hya^^na ; it is said to be much more rapacious and aggres- 

 sive. I cannot say how this may be. Perhaps the very 

 wildness of the animal has been the cause of unjust sus- 

 picions with regard to its savage nature. I know that on 

 several occasions the natives laid the blame ot certain cattle 

 ravages and fatalities on " my hycena " when leopards were 

 unquestionably the real culprits ! 



In captivity both striped and spotted hyzenas are very 

 ■conhding. In the Berlin Zoological Gardens I can call 

 one away from its meal of flesh ! The animal prefers 

 a caress to the satisfaction of its hunger. 



In 1902 I managed with great trouble to bring home 

 to Europe in an iron cage a hyccna (//. sc/ii/Zii/gsi), caught 

 in the Lafitti Mountains. It is still living. Its transport 

 to the coast on the shoulders of forty coolies would never 

 have been carried out but for the energy of my most 



457 



